Shades
by TaikoHawk
Summary: Sequel to Perchance to Dream. The world is at war, Akatsuki is on the prowl, and a corrupt Hokage rules Konoha. The group of exiled ninja called Genshi must face these problems, or watch as everything they love and stand for is destroyed. Rated for L & V.
1. Haunting

_TH: Okay, starting note for 'Shades'! Woo! _**IMPORTANT.**_ 'Shades' is a **sequel**. This means that if you have not read 'Perchance to Dream' and 'Ravel, Unravel' you might be confused. Some of you might still be confused, so I urge you to read between the lines to some level. I will also have recap-thingees at the beginning of future chapters, which might clear up any questions you all have about why things are the way they are in this world.  
_

_Also, Shades is very different from its two predecessors. Why? Well because, first of all, it's from a completely different point of view. PtD and RU were both more or less following Itachi. **Shades follows Sakura**. Why the change? Because the plot for Shades follows Team Seven more than it does Itachi. And also because Itachi is really kind of difficult to write. ^_^;;_

_Shades has a different tone from PtD and RU, too. I tried to make it faster paced, and with more humor. Because I like the idea of sarcastic, bantering Team Seven._

_I do use some Japanese terms, but I try to keep it to a minimum. Generally, if it sounds stupid translated to English, I leave it in Japanese. So mostly the names of jutsu and other ninja things are in Japanese. Some **definitions** will be given, if it's a word I'm not sure people will know, at the end of chapters._

_Updates are going to be erratic. There may be long waits. Please be patient; I know how annoying it can be and I'll do my best._

_Sorry for the long author's note. I think I've covered everything I wanted to... Individual questions may be addressed via review and PM. See any spelling or grammatical errors, point 'em out! Please read and review!_

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Disclaimer: TaikoHawk doesn't hold rights to Naruto, Naruto:Shippuden, or any of the characters therein. Now she's just screwing with them._  
_

* * *

**SHADES**

* * *

**Chapter One— Haunting**

* * *

She was crouched by a tree, her back pressed against the trunk, arms propped on her knees, hands dangling in front of her. Her face—covered by a cloth mask from nose to chin—was slightly tilted up and she seemed to be gazing dreamily at the forest canopy above her.

_:One…:_

She was dressed as a ninja, with dark clothes and armor, and weapon- and scroll-pouches hanging at her waist. Her dark leather fighter's gloves looked well-worn, and there was a sense about her of contained power. She crouched there absolutely motionless, almost as if she didn't even need to breathe, or blink.

_:Two…:_

There was a _hitai-ate _tied about her head, but there was no symbol etched upon its surface to denote which Hidden Village she hailed from. Instead, the smooth, polished metal bore only a deep horizontal line—a scratch, as one made by a sharp-edged weapon like a kunai. The universal mark of a _nukenin_.

A blank _hitai-ate _with only the _nukenin _mark. It was a sight that had only begun appearing in the last couple of years; stories— rumors, really— were just starting to circulate about the dangerous, secretive group of ninja who wore those _hitai-ate_.

They called themselves Genshi. 'Apparitions.'

_:Three.:_

The girl— young woman—unfolded fluidly, in a flash of movement too fast to follow with an untrained eye. As she rose from her crouch, she pivoted on one foot, and drew a _ninjato _from its sheath across her back. The pivot took her around the tree so that she was suddenly standing beside it. Perfectly positioned to intercept the foreign shinobi who was barreling toward her, filled with killing intent.

_:More Hunters,: _she thought with a sigh. They just wouldn't learn, would they? _:Curiosity killed the cat, I suppose.:_

It had been five years since they had situated themselves in the forest, though the place had had its horrible reputation for decades before that. People went into the forest, villagers said, and never came out again. But if there had ever been anything in _Chi no Mori_—the Forest of Blood—that had earned it its name and its rumors, that something had been long gone when Genshi established their base. Still, civilians kept their distance. The only ones to venture into the trees were either too foolhardy to be cautious or were Hunter-nin making sure their quarry wasn't within. And when these disappeared, nobody thought it odd, because it was, after all, _Chi no Mori_, and disappearances were to be expected of the cursed wood. They never suspected that the disappearances might be caused by something other than their legend. And Genshi preferred it that way.

The shinobi skidded to a halt in front of her, his companions dropping down to stand at his flanks. All four of them drew weapons and stood ready, eyeing the dark-clad girl who had halted them.

She knew what they saw. A young—by her short and slender stature—girl, standing easily with a _ninjato _held loosely in one fist, dressed in a manner reminiscent of ANBU, though with no cultural cues to pinpoint which Village. She let her eyes drag over them in the beat of silence that followed her abrupt appearance. Then she said, pitching her voice a touch lower than normal (she couldn't do anything about looking young, but she didn't need to _sound _young as well): "You have trespassed into _Chi no Mori_. For your foolishness, you will die."

This elicited an immediate response, of the type she'd expected. The lead Hunter-nin (from Kumogakure, she noted from the style of their masks) snarled wordlessly, and lunged. He was good, she had to give him that. But she had the advantage, for three reasons. Reason number one was that she knew the forest better than they did. It was easy enough to elude he and his comrades' attacks by dodging through the trees and brush, using carefully timed and applied _genjutsu _and _kawarimi no jutsu_ to attempt to disorient them.

_:Reasons numbers two and three,: _she thought with a small measure of annoyance, _:are _late_.:_

She wasn't quite good enough to take on four trained Hunter-nins by herself, which was why the border guards for _Chi no Mori_ ran in 3-cell teams. Her Teammates were going to catch _hell _when they finally showed… Ah. At last.

She skipped back away from the Hunter-nin she'd been crossing blades with as the enemy kunoichi's limbs suddenly dropped limply to her sides. A quick scan proved that the other three Hunters were in similar states of dull-eyed stupor. She flicked her _ninjato _and sheathed it, glancing up into the trees at her left.

"You're late, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn," her Teammate dropped beside her. He was dressed similarly to her, but instead of a mask that covered him nose-to-chin, he had an oval, perfectly smooth, white porcelain mask that covered his whole face. The Genshi slash was etched into the forehead, the only mark on the mask. It was also impossible to see his eyes, even through the narrow eyeholes, which was why he wore it. "Apparently it wasn't too much of a problem for you. You're unharmed."

"And that's an excuse for you to turn into another Kakashi-sensei?"

She could tell he was giving her a flat look even through the mask. She returned her own, innocently wide-eyed. "What? You _have _been training with him a lot lately; maybe it's catching."

"Hey! Are there any bad-guys left for me?" the boisterous shout interrupted whatever come-back Sasuke might have given. He glared at its origin.

"Sakura and I were just about to clean things up. Get down here, or you'll miss your part, idiot."

"Ugh, do you have to use such a weird euphemism?" Sakura complained. "Calling it 'cleaning things up' is so… twisted."

Naruto laughed, jumping down to join them. The four Hunter-nins still swayed under Sasuke's _genjutsu_, oblivious. "Yeah, bastard. You gotta admit, things usually aren't 'clean' after we're done with them."

"More like bloody," Sakura muttered. "Tsunade-shishou still doesn't believe how many uniforms we went through last year."

"We're doing our job," Sasuke rejoined, unfazed. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Right. Well, I'm just saying we _could _do it with a little less gore."

"Perhaps you shouldn't put your fist through their chests?" Sasuke suggested dryly.

"Haha. Maybe you could just use _Chidori _to electrocute them to death," Sakura said.

"_Chidori _takes too much chakra. It is more efficient for us share the task," Sasuke said, but his Teammates were already preparing themselves to take out their targets. The argument was an old one, and none of them really expected or wanted things to change. The argument was more or less obsolete, in any case, as they had all advanced their skills and become adept at killing quickly and cleanly (relatively). They continued to argue simply because they liked to bicker, though Sasuke would never own up to it.

The dark-haired Genshi took a kunai out, and eliminated his target with a swift stab to the back of the neck, severing the spinal cord. The Kumo shinobi died instantly, without pain. Sasuke looked to his Teammates, who had each dispatched their own Hunter-nins with similar moves. As one, they looked to the fourth, final (living) Hunter-nin.

"Should we bring him to Tsunade-shishou for interrogation?" wondered Sakura aloud. Naruto shrugged.

"Eh. Why not?" he said. Sakura turned her gaze to her other Teammate. Sasuke didn't respond, or look at her, but he stared intently at the last remaining Kumo-nin and Sakura knew he was deepening the _genjutsu _on the Hunter. It would make it easier to transport him.

"Alright. I'll send a message to the other patrols and to Tsunade-shishou, telling them we're leaving our post momentarily," Sakura said, and her hands flew into a series of seals.

* * *

"Kumo-nin, huh?" Tsunade said. "You killed three of them? I hope you disposed of the bodies properly."

"Of course," Sasuke said. His mask was pushed up on his head to reveal his face. "No one will find remains."

"Good," Tsunade leaned back in her seat and interlaced her fingers in front of her chin. "The fourth one will have to wait for his interrogation; your brother and Kakashi are still out on their mission."

"Well, we stuck him in one of the cells on third level. Gai-sensei, Lee, and Tenten are on guard duty," Naruto said, sounding heartily bored of the conversation. "So is that it, Baa-chan?"

"Naruto…" Sakura growled, fists clenching at her sides. "How about a little more respect?"

"Eh, eh, sorry Sakura-chan!" he immediately cowered, hands rising, placating. Sasuke's eyes closed momentarily, as if he were refusing to believe the two ninja beside him were actually his Teammates.

"Actually," Tsunade said, treating the scene in front of her as if it were commonplace… which it was, "There is something else, brat."

Naruto's head whipped toward her, and Sakura paused in her menacing. The blond practically bounced in place. "What? Really? What is it?"

"Since the perimeter guards are about to change shifts and you three will be off-duty, I'd like you to go to the eastern town… Sapporayama… and get more medical supplies. Sakura should know what we need."

"Alright!" crowed Naruto. It was rare that they were allowed to venture out of the _Chi no Mori_, except while on missions, and the opportunity was a coveted privilege. Naruto grinned at his Teammates, tucking his hands behind his head, eyes crinkling shut with the size of the expression on his face. "Awesome! Let's go, guys!"

"Hold it, Naruto," Sakura said. Her eyes were on Tsunade. "We need some Schedule II drugs. Which doctor should I _henge _as?"

In order to acquire some of the more regulated medications they used, Genshi had established a couple covers as doctors from nearby towns. Whenever they needed to get some of the drugs, the team going on a supply run would have one person _henge_ as a doctor. They cycled them so that suspicions weren't raised. Fortunately, there were a couple towns around _Chi no Mori_ and they could also cycle which towns they get their supplies from. Since the towns didn't really ever think to check to make sure 'Dr. Ashida' (or whomever) actually _was _from the village on the other side of the forest, Genshi hadn't been found out yet.

"Yes… We haven't used the Yurobi Yasuko persona for a while. I think it's about time for her to make an appearance," Tsunade said. She rummaged around in a nearby pile of scrolls, extracted one, and tossed it to Sakura. She caught it, scanned it briefly to refresh her memory of the cover, and returned it to Tsunade.

"Got it."

"Alright, then, get out of here," Tsunade said, waving them off. Naruto whooped, and shot out of the office, presumably to change out of his Genshi uniform and into civilian clothes. Sasuke and Sakura followed at a more sedate pace.

The Genshi hideout was, in fact, a labyrinth of underground tunnels under the _Chi no Mori_. The entrances were hidden, as were any possible signs of the hideout's presence. Genshi didn't really have to patrol the borders of the forest that strictly, since it was very unlikely that anyone who managed to enter the forest would also manage to find the hideout. But it was better safe than sorry, and it let them train above ground sometimes without the worry of being discovered accidentally.

The labyrinthine tunnels of the base contained everything they needed, from bathrooms complete with running water to kitchens to dojo to personal sleeping quarters. It was large enough that everyone had their own room, though those rooms held only a bed and a desk and not much else. Not that anyone complained. They were all lucky to be alive, after what happened five years ago. No one found the lack of space in their personal quarters very distressing. Besides, there were several large, open spaces for public use in the base. It wasn't like they were caged in when not on missions or patrol.

Sakura went to her room and changed into some civilian clothes, and then stood before the mirror hung on her wall, marshaled her thoughts, formed a couple handseals, and performed a _henge_. Her hair shortened and darkened to a rich brown, her eyes went grey, and her body plumped out a little around the waist. Sakura turned from side to side, clinically inspecting the _henge _in the mirror from all angles.

_:Good enough,: _she allowed, though there were no flaws to the illusion. The tingle of chakra that marked her appearance as a _henge _was even minimized, so it could pass a casual inspection by another ninja. Hopefully, they wouldn't run into any enemy ninja in the town, but they took all possible precautions. If they did encounter some shinobi and the enemy realized they were disguised, the three Genshi would just have to rely on their problem-solving capabilities to get themselves out of trouble.

Sakura flicked her hair over her shoulder, grabbed a traveling pack, and went to the Genshi's treasury. She signed out some money to pay for the medical supplies Tsunade wanted her to get, and then made for the southeastern exit of the base, where she knew Sasuke and Naruto would be waiting.

She lifted a hand as she approached, identifying her Teammates even under their _henge _with the ease of long-practice and familiarity. Naruto waved excitedly, and Sasuke dipped his chin. Both looked studiously unremarkable, their features bland and guaranteed not to stick in anyone's memory for longer than a couple minutes. Sakura smiled at them, hiking up her pack a little on her back. She joined them as Sasuke turned to the entrance guard, a Chuunin-level shinobi called Kotetsu. He was one of the many Genshi who'd been in the group from the start, an old Konoha-nin.

"Team Seven, on a re-supply mission to Sapporayama," Sasuke told the older shinobi. Kotetsu cast a sharp eye over the three of them, and, apparently finding everything in order, inked their departure into the logbook sitting on the desk in front of him.

"Very well, Team Seven, you're cleared. Try to bring back some _sake_, eh?" he said, grinning. It was a common joke among the entrance guards, whose jobs were— more often than not— numbingly boring. Sakura returned the Chuunin's grin.

"We always bring back _sake_, Kotetsu-san. It's just that Tsunade-shishou always gets to it first," she said. Kotetsu chuckled, and waved them out.

* * *

As usual, the supply-run was uneventful. They went in, got what they needed without any hassle, and got out. Easy. But…

"I can't believe you, Naruto," huffed Sakura, as they headed back to the base, using chakra to propel themselves (plus an extra couple dozen pounds of supplies each) along at high speed. "That money is not yours to do with what you will! It's the group's! It's supposed to be used for what the group needs, _not _for ramen!"

"Aw c'mon, Sakura-chan!" whined Naruto, rubbing his head where his pink-haired Teammate had whacked him. "I forgot my wallet, and how often do I get to get fresh, real ramen? Never! I _needed _it, and there was money leftover from my supplies… I'll pay it back, I swear! I have the money in my room, I just didn't bring it on this trip…"

"I should tell Tsunade-shishou," Sakura said darkly, and Naruto paled. Sasuke kept silent, but looked vaguely amused.

"Oh gods, no Sakura-chan! Please!"

"I _should_," she reiterated, and then sighed. "But I won't. It would suck for Team Seven to be inactive because one of its members is stuck in traction."

Naruto let out a sigh of utter relief and then sulked: "That's so mean, Sakura-chan, threatening me like that."

"You deserved it, idiot," Sasuke informed the blond dryly. Naruto tossed him an affronted look.

"No fair teaming up on me," he said.

"Hn," Sasuke said.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Yep. Just another typical Team Seven trip into town. Complete with Naruto acting more foolish than his training should have allowed. The boy was the student of Sharingan Kakashi, AKA the Copy Ninja, AKA the son of the White Fang and apprentice of Jiraiya the Toad Sage, one of the Three Legendary Sannin. One would have expected him to act a little more in accordance with…

_:Actually,: _Sakura thought, recalling some of the less savory habits of the two older men, _:Maybe it's better Naruto doesn't act more like them…:_

Her lips quirked slightly, and she kicked off strongly from the next tree-limb she landed on. Over her shoulder, she shot back at her Teammates: "Race you guys back!"

Naruto's answering grin was infectious, and he exclaimed: "You're on! And no cheating!"

The last bit was directed toward Sasuke, whose Sharingan would allow him to move faster through the trees than his comrades, were it activated. Sasuke _'tsk'_ed in annoyance.

"How is using my skills cheating, exactly?" he asked, keeping up with Naruto's increased speed easily. He, Naruto, and Sakura were neck-and-neck.

"You're the only one here with a Bloodline," Sakura said. "And we're not testing how good your Bloodline is, we're testing who has the most endurance and speed."

"Hn," Sasuke responded. Which meant that he acknowledged the point, but still thought it ridiculous. And to prove his point, he pulled ahead of his two Teammates with seemingly no exertion at all. Naruto and Sakura gave similar grimaces of aggravation, and pushed themselves faster. Still, Sasuke beat them back to the Genshi's base. He landed by the entrance lightly, and his two Teammates landed beside him a second later. He turned to them and said, as if no time had elapsed since they'd last spoken: "I wouldn't really consider it cheating. More like merely speeding up your inevitable defeat."

"Jerk," Sakura said, breathing deeply to slow her heart back to normal. But she smiled as she said it. Naruto growled wordlessly, and took a swipe at Sasuke, who dodged with the ease of long practice. They were all panting slightly, having really pushed themselves in the good-natured race.

"Well," Sakura said after a pause; she hooked a thumb under the strap of the heavily-loaded pack on her back. "We should get this stuff logged and unloaded."

"Right," Sasuke agreed. They approached the base's entrance, gave the appropriate handseals, and walked in. Kotetsu was still at the desk; he looked up as they dispelled their _henge _and walked up to him.

"_Irohanihoheto_," he said.

"_Toka nakute shisu_," Sasuke gave the appropriate countersign, and Kotetsu smiled slightly.

"Welcome back, Team Seven. All done shopping?"

"Yep," replied Naruto, grinning. The Chuunin gateguard inked their return in the log swiftly, his handwriting neat for all his speed. He looked up, his usual spark of good-humor bright in his eye.

"So, bring me back any _sake _like I asked?"

"Yep, but you'll have to ask Tsunade-shishou to share," returned Sakura. Kotetsu grimaced at the thought of trying cajole the blonde Sannin to share her precious booze.

"Ah… I'll pass, thanks."

Sakura laughingly led Sasuke and Naruto away, leaving the Chuunin behind at his post. They carried the bags of supplies to the storerooms and got the materials logged into the manifest. Grinning and arguing playfully (or in Sasuke's case, smirking and chipping in occasional snarky comments), they meandered down the corridor toward the treasury. They'd turn in the remaining money left from the trip and then retire to one of the lounge rooms, most likely to get dragged into another poker game with some of the other Genshi.

Since Sasuke was walking in front of Naruto and Sakura, they noticed immediately when he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Sasuke? What…?" Sakura said as she craned her head around to look at her Teammate's face. The Uchiha's brow was slightly furrowed, his eyes staring down the corridor. Sakura and Naruto followed his line of sight. "Oh. Your brother's back."

And indeed, Itachi was striding down the hall toward them, Kakashi in step next to him. They were still in their uniforms (though their porcelain full-masks were pulled up to reveal their faces), and considering where this corridor led, they were on their way to see Tsunade for a debriefing. They both looked intense, their strides firm. That wasn't much of a change for Itachi, but for Kakashi, who always seemed to slouch around…

"Something's up," Sakura whispered. Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"Sasuke, your brother's sleeve…" Naruto murmured. Their eyes went to Itachi's arms, and widened in shock. The older Uchiha's right sleeve was crusted with dried blood, and charred. Through the jagged rend that gaped near the elbow, they could see flashes of white bandage. It wasn't uncommon for Genshi to come back with wounds, sometimes small, sometimes severe, but… This was the Uchiha Prodigy. The man who, back in Konoha, had made ANBU at eleven. He didn't get injured easily. And now that their attention was sharpened on the two elites coming down the hall, they could see the dirt and blood on the pair's uniforms, and Kakashi's drawn face.

Sakura, with her trained med-nin eye, noted quietly: "Kakashi-sensei is almost to the point of collapse. He must have been forced to use his Sharingan."

They fell silent as Kakashi and Itachi got closer. As they passed, Sasuke greeted: "Nii-san. Kakashi-sensei."

Itachi's dark eyes went to his younger brother and he nodded his head minutely. Kakashi flicked his fingers in a half-salute at his old students, but other than that, neither responded to the murmured greetings from Team Seven. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto turned to watch the two older shinobi disappear down the hall.

"What the hell?" said Naruto after a moment, giving voice to all their thoughts.

"Something's definitely up," Sakura said.

"Sakura." Sasuke didn't even have to say anything more than her name. She got it.

"Right," she said, and took off after Kakashi and Itachi. They'd made it into Tsunade's office before she caught up, so she nodded cordially to the shinobi guarding the door, knocked briskly and cracked open the door when she heard her _shishou_'s 'enter!'

"Sakura?" Tsunade lifted an eyebrow. Sakura edged in, avoiding looking at Kakashi and Itachi, who stood formally in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I saw Kakashi-sensei and Uchiha-san coming in and noticed they're injured. Do you-?"

"Hm, that's enough," Tsunade interrupted with a small snort. "I'm fairly certain I can take care of their injuries. You're dismissed."

Sakura blinked at the curtness of her teacher's tone. "I…"

"Out!" Tsunade said firmly, pointing at the door. Sakura schooled her face and bowed. As she stepped out of the door, Tsunade shouted after her: "And don't even try to eavesdrop through the door!"

Sakura frowned as the door shut behind her and locked. Her _shishou_ knew her too well. She could feel a curtain of chakra roll up the other side of the door, soundproofing the room. _:Dammit! I guess she really doesn't want anyone overhearing whatever happened…:_

Sakura scowled and went to find her Teammates.

* * *

"_Shishou_ kicked me out practically before I said anything," she groused to Sasuke and Naruto as they sat in one of the smaller lounges. Sasuke opened his mouth, and Sakura added: "And she soundproofed the room so I couldn't listen through the door."

Sasuke's mouth closed, and his fingers drummed the table once. "It must be something big."

It was quite possible that Umino Iruka and the late Sandaime Hokage had made a horrible mistake in placing the three of them together on a Team, back when they'd first been made Genin. They were probably the worst troublemakers in the history of the Fire Country. All three were powerful, determined, and curious as a clan of ninja cats. They seemed dissatisfied with being kept in the dark about anything, and contrived to make every little bit of news that came to Genshi's leader their business. Half the time they succeeded, too.

…Or maybe Umino Iruka and the Sandaime Hokage had made Team Seven in a stroke of brilliance. For much the same reasons they annoyed Tsunade (and on occasion the rest of Genshi), they made excellent ninja.

"Maybe we could get Kakashi or your brother to tell us," suggested Naruto, who was sprawled on the floor. Sasuke bent a very disgusted look on the blond. "What?"

"You're either stupidly optimistic, or just stupid," the Uchiha told Naruto. "There's no way Nii-san will tell us classified information, and even if Kakashi could tell us without going against orders, he'd probably just withhold it to spite us."

"He does seem to enjoy taunting us like that," Sakura said thoughtfully. "No, there's no way either of them will tell us."

"Ugh! I HATE not knowing what's going on!" exclaimed Naruto, rolling onto his back and covering his face with an arm.

"Yeah, well…" Sakura grumbled. "There's not much we can do… I mean, I _could _ask _shishou_ again. Maybe if she's drunk…"

Team Seven's heads all twitched toward the lounge's entrance in unison, as a breathless Genin skidded to a halt in the doorframe. He gasped: "Tsunade-sama's called an assembly in the large audience chamber! Everyone's to report there immediately!"

And then he dashed off, presumably to pass the message along.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Nartuo all looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Or maybe she'll call an assembly and tell everyone," Naruto said.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**Genshi—**spirit, apparition. Since Japanese do not denote plurals except in context, this can mean either one apparition or many.

**Chi no Mori—**the Forest of Blood.

**irohanihoheto—**first line of a famous poem (often called the 'Iroha') written during the Heian period. It contains every character of the Japanese syllabary exactly once (like how the sentence 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' contains every roman letter in the alphabet).

**toka nakute shisu**—the hidden sentence revealed when the last syllable in each line of the Iroha (in the original Man'yogana) are put together.

**shishou—**master/teacher. Respectful title apprentices may call their master.


	2. Problems

_TH: Le gasp! An update! Yes, fair readers, I am once again playing the benevolent author, giving you a chapter on time (maybe a little earlier?). As of right now, I have 9 chapters written of this, with more on the way. Hopefully, I won't need to make any more major rewrites (I've already had to do one), and will be able to progress with this in a timely manner. Still... don't be TOO upset with me if updates become slow. Please._

_This is the first chapter with an opening 'history' scene. Hopefully some of your questions will begin to be answered, and gaps filled in._

**_IMPORTANT: _**_Also I just want to reiterate that, since this is a sequel to Perchance to Dream, it's going to follow that things will be very different. In PtD, Itachi changed everything. The world in which we find ourselves now is very VERY different from the one in the canon manga/anime. Even the smallest of things can wreak large changes. Itachi had changed things, some big and some small. Those changes are going to ripple out, and cause other changes, which will also propagate. And aside from Itachi, this 'rewind' of time gives lots of other people the chance to make new choices. So don't be surprised when some situations are different. This will come into play soon.

* * *

_

******SHADES

* * *

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******Chapter Two— Problems

* * *

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**__****Five Years Ago**

_All of Konoha was stricken when their Hokage fell ill. He had seemed for so long a solid fixture in the village, always there, always strong. He had seen the village through war, had held Konoha up after the death of the Yondaime Hokage, had kept its reputation and its people intact. And now he was, in all reports, dying._

_"He is getting older," people admitted, in quiet voices. "He couldn't live forever."_

_"All those injuries he's received over years of being an active-duty shinobi probably weakened his body," some of the older villagers, remembering the Sandaime's days as a general ninja, nodded sagely._

_Whatever the reason, Konohagakure no Sato's Sandaime Hokage was ailing. And medics couldn't figure out how to stop it. Talk began to shift to candidates for the Godaime seat. As the Sandaime started spending more and more time in Konoha's hospital, the Council began spending more and more time in session, running through the lists of their potential nominees._

_It took two weeks to narrow the choices down to two, a time during which the Sandaime wasted away, day by day. When they went to propose the two candidates to the Hokage, he was confined to a bed in a private room of the hospital. Unable to eat, he received nourishment solely from an IV. There were questions on how stable his mental condition was, and on the integrity of his decisions and suggestions, but the choice was made and seconded by the Council._

_The Godaime Hokage would be Senju Tsunade, one of the Three Legendary Ninja. While it was true that she hadn't been in the village for many years, she was not a missing-nin. According to the records, she was an inactive Konoha agent, essentially retired from duty. It was determined that, if the proposition were put before her, she would willingly return to accept the title of Hokage. The only hang-up was finding her, as she tended to travel very quietly, leaving no definite trail of where she'd been or where she was going. It was a fact that had kept them from seeking her medical expertise out before, when it finally became apparent that Konoha's normal medics were helpless in the face of Sandaime's illness. 'It doesn't require her expertise,' they said at first. And then, later: 'It's too late. By the time we find her, it'll be too late for her to do anything.'_

_But since he was already so old, since he was already so diminished, since nobody was sure, after this illness, just how he could recover enough to lead even if he were healed… Nobody thought twice about this. When at last the decision was made to try to find the wandering Slug Sannin, it was not to save to life of the Sandaime. It was to replace him._

_"I will offer one of my Root teams to deliver the message to her," Danzo said in the Council meeting following the decision. A few of the Councilmembers who had been staunch supporters of the Sandaime's policies and who were distrustful of Danzo, immediately stipulated that a team of normal Konoha ninja accompany the Root team to seek out Tsunade. Danzo readily agreed, and the Councilmembers subsided, appeased.

* * *

_

**__****Present**

There were around seventy people in Genshi, though that number changed with some frequency as people joined and… 'left.' Naturally, though, not everyone currently in the group's ranks were present for the assembly; there were still Genshi out on missions, and they couldn't take the ones on-duty off all at the same time. Those members would be told later, or by messenger. But the ninja who were off-duty when Tsunade called the assembly all gathered- intensely curious, slightly uneasy- in the large chamber where such meetings were held.

"Genshi!" Tsunade barked over the murmur of voices, once she deemed there to be enough of the group gathered to begin. The soft rumble of speech in the chamber stilled, and everyone trained their eyes on the blonde Sannin. Her brown eyes scanned the assembled faces. "We have received some news. Akatsuki and Konoha have won their war on Iwa. The Akatsuki member Deidara was appointed Tsuchikage of the conquered country, but it is apparent that he is still subordinate to Akatsuki's leader."

Tsunade paused for the murmurs and exclamation that swept through the ranks. Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto exchanged grim looks. That made three countries (not to mention the smaller countries between them, which had no militaries to speak of and had been bloodlessly annexed) that had fallen to the Akatsuki and Danzo's Konoha. Waterfall, Grass, and Earth. Who would be next?

Tsunade lifted her hand for silence, and it fell, thick and heavy, across the group. Her expression was dark, her posture unnaturally stiff as she stood before them.

"There is more. It would seem that the Akatsuki is… is collecting the Bijuu. It is likely that, if they are contained within Jinchuuriki, Akatsuki will kill the host and extract the demon. We can only assume they will use the Bijuu to attack other countries, or within conquered countries as deterrents for resistance. Thus far, they posses the Yonbi, Gobi, Shichibi, and Hachibi. I don't think I have to explain how grave a matter this is."

"Sakura," Sasuke murmured lowly, from where he stood next to her. She looked at him, and he flicked his eyes over her head, significantly.

She glanced to her other side as he indicated, toward Naruto, whose fists were clenched so tightly his arms and shoulders were trembling. She touched the back of one hand lightly, and Naruto turned eyes on her that flickered between red and blue. She whispered to him: "Naruto, you have to calm down."

His irises flashed red at this, but then Naruto closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, forcing his fury down. When he reopened his eyes, they were blue. He murmured: "Thanks."

Sakura slid her fingers into his hand, squeezed once, and let go. Sasuke let his shoulder brush against hers, a tacit sign of approval. Meanwhile, Tsunade was saying: "We may not be able to keep such a low profile any longer. We need to start making more aggressive moves in order to stop this conquest. We can't allow Danzo and Akatsuki to get any more Bijuu, or take over any more countries. As of this moment, consider Genshi actively at war."

"_OSU!_" roared the assembled ninja. They sounded ready, willing, even if they were only forcing such vehemence into their tones. Tsunade nodded firmly, once.

"Dismissed!"

* * *

"Well, shit," said Sakura. Naruto snorted humorlessly.

"Yeah."

"It _was_ something big," Sasuke observed, deadpan. Naruto paced back and forth in agitation, muttering to himself. Sakura watched him, a touch of concern in her eyes. Sasuke regarded a nearby wall thoughtfully. The three were silent for a time, and then…

"Dammit!" Naruto exploded, and punched the wall. Knuckles pressed against the stone, he leaned his weight against the fist and bowed his head. Sakura stood and went to his side, placing a hesitant hand on his back.

"Don't worry too much, Naruto. They declared us dead, remember? Maybe not everyone believes that, but it's still Danzo's official position. He can't take it back. He made the rules, so now he has to play by them. So if he does try to capture you, he'll have to be very quiet about it. He won't be able to send many men out after you."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Naruto said. "Well, not very much. If they try to catch me, I'll smash 'em. But I'm worried about Konoha, and the others. They're still stuck there, under Danzo's fist! Fighting his damn wars… Having to live according to his damn laws…"

Sakura exchanged grim looks with Sasuke, who stood and went to lean against the wall next to Naruto's fist. The Uchiha crossed his arms and tilted his head to stare at the ceiling as he said: "I wouldn't be surprised if part of this 'active war' Tsunade-sama's leading us into is retrieving those people from Konoha. We'll have to build up our forces, and we know a lot of people still in Konoha who would join us if they could."

"Sasuke's right," Sakura said. "They may still be in Konoha, following Danzo's orders, but I bet you a lot of them aren't happy about it."

"Yeah," Naruto said, brightening. "You're right. We just gotta give them the chance to join us!"

Sakura smiled, glad her almost-brother was back to his cheery self. She thumped him on the shoulder: "Damn straight! …Eh? Sasuke? Where are you going?"

Their black-haired Teammate glanced back over his shoulder, pausing mid-step. "If we want to be one of the Teams that is sent to collect the Konoha remnant, we should see Tsunade-sama before she makes the assignments."

* * *

"Let me guess," Tsunade drawled, eyeing the three young Genshi that stood in front of her. The Genshi's leader was slumped at her desk, chin propped on interlaced fingers, elbows braced on the surface before her. Sakura could tell her _shishou_ wanted to be able to pull out a _sake _jug. The news she'd just given to the organization must be weighing heavily on her mind. But she hid it and gamely took Team Seven on in their usual skirmish of words. "You want to be given a mission that's far beyond your capabilities, puts you in undue danger, and keeps you in the thick of things."

"We want to be one of the Teams that goes and collects our comrades from Konoha," Sasuke said calmly.

"As I said," Tsunade replied dryly.

"_Shishou_, please," Sakura stepped up. "A lot of our year-mates and friends are still in Konoha. We want to go back for them. Show them they weren't forgotten."

Tsunade lifted one eyebrow. "A stirring speech, Sakura, but let me remind you that you three are still Genin. You're hardly prepared for such a mission."

"We're only still Genin in _name_," spat Sasuke. Evidently, his pride had been injured by the reminder. "You _know _our skills rank higher than that. Ma'am."

"Your skills rank high, maybe, but you don't have the experience," Tsunade snapped back. She and Sasuke matched glares for a moment… And then Tsunade leaned back and re-laced her fingers together. "And besides, we're not ready to make a move on Konoha and Danzo just yet. So I'm sending you on a different mission."

"What?" yelped Naruto, and Sasuke opened his mouth to protest also, face darkening. Tsunade continued over them:

"We've gotten word that Suna had a Jinchuuriki."

Sasuke shut his mouth, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Naruto went rigid, and silent. Sakura glanced at his face nervously, but it was unreadable—blank. Tsunade was watching him closely as well, a shrewd look in her eyes. Finally, Naruto said, in a very tight voice: "Had?"

"Evidently, the Kazekage wasn't impressed with the status of the Jinchuuriki… To be frank, he used an inferior seal that was too weak to completely hold the Ichibi, and the Bijuu drove its host at least partially insane. The Kazekage ended up fearing his son. He's tried on numerous occasions to assassinate the boy because of that fear."

Sakura, listening to Tsunade with mounting horror, felt a little ill as she asked uneasily: "His… son?"

"The Ichibi Jinchuuriki is the Kazekage's third child, born for the express purpose of becoming host to the Bijuu," Tsunade confirmed.

_CRACK_.

Naruto's fist left a sizeable crater in the nearby wall. Which was stone. Genshi's leader sighed. "Naruto, I understand the sentiment, but please restrain yourself from compromising the structural integrity of my office. I'd rather not be buried in rubble when this room caves in from your abuse. Now. As I was saying, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki is the Kazekage's third son. They found out early on that the Ichibi would not allow any harm to come to its host; it would summon an impenetrable wall of sand to block any attack or any perceived threat. They've called it the 'ultimate defense.'"

"You said the Kazekage fears his son, and has tried to assassinate him. But you also said the Jinchuuriki has an impenetrable defense. So what happened to make you use the past tense when you say Suna _had _a Jinchuuriki?" Sasuke wanted to know. Tsunade nodded at him.

"Evidently the Kazekage made one attempt too many. The Jinchuuriki abandoned Suna about a year ago, taking his siblings with him."

"Can you explain the situation a little more, Tsunade-shishou?" Sakura asked after an interval of silence. "Why would he bring his siblings? Or I guess, why would his siblings go with him? Was it only the Kazekage who was afraid of the Jinchuuriki?"

"What's his _name_?" Naruto broke in, in a low, intense voice. They all looked at him; he was standing with his head bowed, staring at the floor with blazing blue eyes. His shoulders were relaxed, but Sakura could see his hands balled into fists at his sides.

"Yeah…" she echoed, softening her tone. "What's his name, _Shishou_?"

Tsunade looked at Naruto with warm eyes as she answered. "Gaara. Sabaku no Gaara. And his sister is Temari and his brother Kankurou. Temari is the eldest, at twenty-one. She uses _tessenjutsu_ as her primary attack form, and is a skilled strategist."

"_Tessen…jutsu…_?" Sakura echoed, eyebrows rising. "She fights with a war-fan?"

Tsunade nodded her answer, and continued: "Kankurou is twenty. He uses puppets, controlled by chakra strings, to fight. He is also skilled in poisons, and many of his puppets' weapons are coated in it."

"Like Sasori," murmured Sasuke. Genshi, thanks in large part to Sasuke's brother's efforts, knew each and every of Akatsuki's members and their skills and talents.

"Sasori is from Suna, as Kankurou is. It is probable some secrets of puppetmastery were left behind in the Hidden Village when Sasori abandoned it." Tsunade said. "In any case, that brings us to the third child. Gaara, now eighteen years of age. Once the Kazekage found out his wife was pregnant again, he began preparations for sealing the Ichibi into the child. The sealing took place just before the birth, and for the sacrifice the sealing required, they used Gaara's mother. But as the child grew up they realized the seal wasn't strong enough. Gaara could not sleep, or else the Ichibi would take control. And Gaara could not control the Ichibi's reactions to his environment. If it perceived a threat, no matter how small, it would cause the sand defense to manifest. And the Ichibi was perverse and took almost any movement toward it as a threat. Very few people could get near Gaara without being injured or killed. This caused the Kazekage to deem him a failure, and order assassination attempts. But none of them seemed to succeed. As Gaara got older, he began to be able to control some of the Ichibi's reactions, enough that he could use the Bijuu's powers voluntarily. Instead of reassuring the Kazekage, this only made him fear Gaara more, because now Gaara could _choose _who to kill."

Team Seven was quietly and attentively listening, as Tsunade paused to breathe a moment. "Temari and Kankurou are Gaara's Teammates, and the only two people he allows near him. Gaara won't kill them, and has never even hurt them. We aren't sure why he's made this exception, but that, and the fact that he fled Suna instead of rampaging and killing all of his tormentors, has us hopeful that he is not as insane and bloodthirsty as the Kazekage claims."

"I am overwhelmed with confidence," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

"I chose you three for this mission because you have good teamwork, high skill-levels, and a wide spectrum of talents. Also," Tsunade smirked, "Naruto has… a way with persuading people."

Sasuke snorted, and Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Tsunade. "Are you making fun of my methods?"

"_Shishou_, what exactly _is _our mission?" Sakura interrupted, frowning as she mentally reviewed the past conversation. The Slug Sannin ignored Naruto, who huffed in indignation, in favor of answering her.

"I want you three to find and make contact with Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou. And I want you to first warn them of Akatsuki's plans, and then persuade them to join with Genshi. They could be good allies. However, if you judge Gaara to be too unstable, or Temari or Kankurou unsuitable, to trust, then I want you to forget the second objective. Understood?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" the three chorused.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**Osu**— a very flexible phrase. Often used by martial artists, guys being tough… In the context I'm using it here, it means something like 'Yes!' but in a very rip-roarin' woohoo, lets get 'em kind of way.

**Shishou**—master/teacher.

**Tessen**—war-fan. Literally 'iron fan', I think. So then, it follows that **tessenjutsu** means the art of fighting with a war-fan.


	3. Messengers

_TH: Hey people. New chapter! Remember what I said about differences in my authors note last time? Yeah, it comes into play here._

_No other notes, I think. So, please read and review!_

_

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******SHADES

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**Chapter Three— Messengers

* * *

**

**_Five Years Ago_**

_The mission to find Tsunade and deliver the Council's message was classified C-rank; not particularly dangerous, but still outside the walls of Konoha. The Council was worried that Konoha's enemies might hear of their lack of leadership and take the opportunity to attack, and so did not want to waste one of the ANBU or Jounin Teams who were guarding the Village. But they also wanted to send out a competent Team, not some green-as-grass Genin. They found the perfect balance in Team Seven, who, though they were Genin, had admirably handled their first C-rank mission, which had in fact eventually been upgraded to above B. Their skill and youth were the ideal combination that the Council was looking for, and so they were assigned the task._

_It was one of the strange workings of fate—some might say, the will of the gods—that the ANBU Root Team that accompanied Team Seven had included a young man known only as 'Sai.' The young shinobi had been struggling with his loyalty to Danzo and Root for a couple years prior, having been disillusioned initially by the death of his Root 'brother.' The death had been completely avoidable, but Danzo's tendency to treat his men as pawns only had consigned the other boy to his doom. Sai had taken note of the failing, and despite the teachings Root gave to make its members emotionless and utterly obedient, had begun to wonder and watch Danzo closely. It seemed that the Tsunade mission was the turning point for him, the final straw._

_ The Root Team waited until they and Team Seven had left the immediate area near Konoha to carry out their orders from Danzo. The first step in those orders was to eliminate Team Seven and clear the way for the rest of the operation. Ultimately, the Root Team was to find Tsunade and, instead of calling her back to take on the mantle of Godaime Hokage, kill her. But when they turned on Team Seven, it became evident that Danzo had underestimated the Genin and their sensei, and made a mistake in sending Sai. The young Root member turned on his fellows, siding with Team Seven._

_ When the dust had finally settled on that battle, the Root Team lay dead, and Team Seven, battered but alive, stood before Sai, demanding answers. He had given them, as best he could with Danzo's security seal tattooed on his tongue. And the suddenly five-member Team had rushed on with the speed of urgency, trying to reach Tsunade before any back-up Root found her first._

* * *

**Present**

It wasn't difficult to find them; Genshi had a very effective spy network. It helped that the three ninja they were looking for were very distinctive in all aspects of the word. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto found the three former-Suna-ninja about two weeks after setting out to look for them.

Clad in their Genshi uniforms, the trio moved quickly through the mountainous area where their targets had last been sighted. There was enough evidence around to assume that the three Suna-nin were still around, so Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were sweeping the area in an attempt to pin down the exact location.

Perhaps they should have considered what Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou's assumption would be, to find a team of masked, unknown ninja coming after them. The siblings were_ nukenin_, after all, and _nukenin _were in the curious position in which 'kill first, ask questions later' tended to be the best course of action. With no allegiance to any Village, and most likely with a bounty on their heads, any ninja a _nukenin _encountered would be an enemy. And if you could get a jump on those enemies, you did. So the Sand siblings tried.

Sakura hissed sharply and threw herself out of the tree she had just touched down on, and the giant sand battering ram that had been flying at her face missed so close that she felt the wind of its passing ruffle her hair, and a few tiny grains of sand that had been carried on that wind peppered the bare skin of her arm. Naruto shouted in alarm, but his voice was drowned out by a roaring wind-element _jutsu_.

Damn! They were so _stupid_, to think that the Suna _nukenin _would just passively wait to see what the trio of obviously armed and dangerous strangers wanted. If the Sand siblings were that naïve, they would have been killed or captured long ago. _Obviously _Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari would assume Team Seven was a group of Hunter-nin, trying to collect on the bounty placed on their heads. _Nukenin _don't have friends.

Sakura dodged a madly-clicking puppet as it swooped toward her, and then slid around Sasuke as he charged past her with a _Chidori_ in hand. She followed after, shaping chakra around her fingers like long, curving claws. She managed to gouge a few furrows in the puppet's casing, but that didn't impair its function at all. Sasuke bypassed attacking the puppet, and went straight for the puppet-master, Kankurou, who was perched high in the trees above their heads.

"Stop!" Sakura shouted. "Stop fighting! We're only here to talk!"

She caught Temari's side kick with a cross-arm guard; the bottom of the other's girl's sandal scraped against Sakura's _tekko_, and the kick pushed Sakura back a couple steps, but taking the blow on her arms let Sakura halve the force of it, turning it from dangerous to simply annoying. Temari scoffed at Sakura: "As if we'd believe that!"

"But it's true!" Naruto put in, before yelping and dodging a whip of sand. Sakura finally pinpointed the origin of the sand attacks—a short redheaded boy with a giant gourd strapped to his back—before her attention was wrenched back to her current opponent.

Sakura used a _Doton_ _jutsu_ to throw up a wall of earth as Temari used her fan to send wind-razors at her. She used the shield of the wall to form a couple handseals, making a _bunshin _and then replacing herself with a fallen branch off to the side. When the dust of Temari's attack fell, and the earth wall was leveled, Sakura's _bunshin _faced down the Suna kunoichi.

"We're serious!" Naruto was shouting in the background. His volume made sure everyone on the 'battlefield' could hear him. "We're from a group—Hey!"

As Naruto's latest attempt to get them to listen failed and he was drawn back into a violent exchange with Gaara, Sakura's _bunshin _made a dash for Temari. Utilizing every bit of the speed that had been drilled into her by her spars with Sasuke and her training with both Kakashi and Tsunade, the copy of Sakura flickered toward Temari, getting close enough to brush the other girl's wrist before getting dispelled in a poof of vapor. The real Sakura smirked and threw a volley of senbon at the blonde, who was looking sharply around with quick green eyes.

Temari blocked all the senbon, plucking the last out of the air with a gloved hand. She sniffed the thin metal needle, and shot a quick assessing glance over it before her eyes pinned the real Sakura with a dark look. "They're poisoned. I knew you were lying about talking."

"It's not poison," Sakura retorted, scowling. "It's a sedative, since you seem less than willing to shut up, sit down, and listen."

"We just wanna talk to you, Gaara!" yelped Naruto, somewhere behind Sakura. This caused Temari's eyes to narrow and she growled at Sakura:

"You won't get my brother. Either of them."

"I applaud your devotion to protecting your brothers. If it were _my _brothers, I'd do the same," Sakura let Temari know with a small gesture that she regarded her Teammates as her brothers. "I—ulp!"

Sakura juked quickly to the side to avoid the kunai Temari flicked at her, and skipped out of reach when the blonde kunoichi lunged forward. Blood dripped down Sakura's arm from where she hadn't quite been able to dodge the projectile, but it wasn't life-threatening and it wasn't poisoned, so she ignored it briefly to focus on her opponent. Temari was staggering a bit, as if dizzy.

The blonde's hand rose to her head. "What did you…? The sedative. But I blocked all of the senbon!" She scowled, realization striking even as she swayed in place. "Your clone."

"Yep," Sakura replied easily. "Same principle as contact poison, except this stuff only makes you dizzy, drowsy, and weak. I only had to touch your skin."

Temari snarled wordlessly, sinking to the ground as the muscles in her legs refused to work anymore. Sakura reassured her: "Don't worry, it wears off after a little while. We really do just want to talk. You're the ones who went all attack-mode on us."

There was a soft thump as someone jumped from the tree canopy down to Sakura's side. She didn't flinch; it was Sasuke, she knew. Temari was blinking rapidly at him—the sedative Sakura had used would make her vision a little blurry, as well—before her face contorted into a mask of fury. She hissed: "What did you do to Kankurou?"

"Your brother is enjoying one of my _genjutsu_," Sasuke told her in a bored tone. Whatever reply Temari would have made was cut off when a steak of tan, red, and maroon flashed in front of her—Gaara had apparently decided to intervene. His sand hissed and swirled at his feet, a very obvious threat. Naruto flashed to his Teammates' sides.

A limb of sand rushed past them, and returned, bearing the inert form of Kankurou on it. With his two siblings safely ensconced behind him and his sand, Gaara leveled Team Seven with a steady stare.

"Who are you?" he demanded, the tone of his voice sounding as if _he _was the one in charge of the situation. Which he might well have been, had they not had the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki on their side, to counter Gaara's own possession of the Ichibi.

Speaking of, Naruto stepped forward, hooking a finger in the cloth mask covering his lower face. Pulling the mask down to his chin he announced firmly: "We're from Genshi. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Sakura pulled down her mask as well. "I'm Haruno Sakura."

There was a pause, and then Sakura elbowed Sasuke pointedly, and introduced him, too. "And this is Uchiha Sasuke." She shot him a dirty look. "You know, for someone raised by a woman as cultured as your mother, you sure turned out rude."

Sasuke pushed his porcelain mask up off his face and glowered at her. He didn't say anything, though, because Gaara spoke: "Genshi is a group of mercenaries. Ninja without a Village."

His turquoise eyes narrowed. "And you three are supposed to be dead. The Hokage announced it. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki went mad and killed his Teammates before being put down by Leaf ANBU."

"And you're supposed to be an insane, bloodthirsty monster," Sasuke returned blandly. Gaara's eyes went to him. Behind the redhead, his sister whispered his name nervously. He waved her down.

"One should not put much credence in what others say without first finding the truth for oneself," Gaara finally replied. "You are not dead. And I am not insane. So."

"So," Sasuke drawled.

"Temari," Gaara said over his shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just a sedative," she replied, shooting Sakura another look. Sakura nodded.

"The compound only has a half-life of fifteen minutes," she admitted. "You should start feeling better soon."

Gaara's sand hissed softly as it gathered and poured itself into the gourd on the redhead's back. He straightened from his ready crouch, and gestured to his siblings. "Release my brother from the _genjutsu_, Uchiha, and we will listen to what you have to say. But—" and here the last finger of sand returning to the gourd flicked in clear warning "—if you try in any way to harm or control any one of us, I will kill you."

Naruto, brow drawn, replied: "If you know that I'm a Jinchuuriki too, you should also know that we aren't your enemy. Sasuke, release Kankurou."

Kankurou came out of the _genjutsu _expecting a fight. He stood down when Gaara ordered him to, but was clearly annoyed by it. "Are you kidding? That guy tried to _kill _me, and you're saying we shouldn't fight them?"

"If I had been trying to kill you, you'd be dead," Sasuke said. Kankurou bristled, and Sakura sighed and stepped in to mediate.

"Manners, Sasuke."

"Kankurou," Gaara said. Just that. His brother subsided with a grumble. Sakura wished she could do that with _her _Teammates.

"You're going to listen?" asked Naruto, voice slightly higher from anxiety. Gaara moved his unsettlingly piercing gaze to the other Jinchuuriki. The redhead's chin dipped. Naruto exhaled. "Great!"

He flashed Gaara a grin and then his face cleared and set solemnly. This was a side of Naruto—the serious, thoughtful side—that had taken several years to cultivate, and several teachers to detect and nurture. He used it rarely, preferring to be cheerful and boisterous, but when he did turn serious, it was to great effect. He met Gaara's unblinking stare with his own and said: "As I said, we're Genshi. Our leader sent us to warn you about the threat Akatsuki and Danzo have on Jinchuuriki, like ourselves."

Gaara's eyes flickered. He paused a moment and then asked: "Why would you warn us?"

The question surprised Naruto out of his solemnity. Blue eyes wide, he gaped at Gaara before replying, in a voice that told them he thought the answer obvious: "We're both Jinchuuriki. We're brothers by circumstance. Why _wouldn't _I warn you?"

For a while, Gaara simply stared at Naruto, steady, unblinking. It was, Sakura had to admit, rather unnerving. And then, something seemed to relax in Gaara's face. It wasn't that he was smiling, or even smirking, it was just… a softening of countenance. Attention still trained on Naruto, he asked, in a voice so quiet they almost had to strain to hear it: "What was it like?"

"Huh?" Naruto's brow furrowed.

"What was _your _life like?" Gaara asked. It was obvious what he meant. _All Jinchuuriki have one thing in common—their lives are filled with pain and hate. What kind of hell did you live through?_

Naruto looked at the ground, subdued. Then, he began to speak. "The Kyuubi attacked my village. A lot of people died, but my father and mother managed to stop the Fox. They gave up their lives and sealed it in me. They wanted me to be a hero, but whenever the villagers looked at me, they only saw the Kyuubi, and their dead loved ones. They were afraid of me. They hated me. I was ignored, left to fend mostly for myself. I ate poorly, because a lot of people wouldn't sell to me, and those who did, jacked their prices up higher for me. Kids, seeing how their parents treated me, thought it was okay to beat me up and mistreat me."

His voice was sad, but when he lifted his head, his eyes were bright. "But then, there was Old Man Hokage, and then Ichiraku Ramen's owners, and then Iruka-sensei. And then Itachi-san, and Sasuke, and Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei. I got lots of friends. They trust me. They like me. They _see _me, Naruto, not the Fox. They're my precious people. I'll protect them, and I'll save Konoha—even the villagers who hate me!—because that's my _nindo_."

There was a longer silence this time. So long that Sakura's attention drifted a little, toward Temari. She looked a little steadier, and her eyes more focused—the sedative was probably mostly worn off by now.

"I—" Gaara said, and Sakura's attention snapped back to him "—should be dead."

Behind him, Kankurou and Temari frowned. Gaara took no notice, and continued, almost thoughtfully: "My father thought I was a failure, because I could not control the Ichibi at the age of three. The first assassinations were with blade and jutsu, but they could not even get close. So they changed to distant attacks. Since my birth I have been poisoned twenty-three times, with various substances, through various means. My food, my water, contact poison, gas… Any way they could find to get past my defense. The poisons did not kill me; when they worked at all, they made me sick, weak. In my vulnerability, Shukaku found the opportunity to seize control. I went mad, and killed indiscriminately. My father grew more afraid, and his and the villagers' hatred grew. My father kept the fact that he was trying to assassinate me quiet. Only he and few of his councilors knew of the poisonings, the attacks. They used my rampages as evidence that I was insane and should be put down, despite the fact that they and their poisons were the cause of those rampages."

Sakura was sickened by the Kazekage's actions, and Naruto was looking more and more furious. But Gaara looked calm. His voice was even, clinical.

"When I was five, I was taken away from the house to live apart from Temari and Kankurou. I was alone, except for the ANBU who watched me. I was treated like a dangerous pet, or a rabid dog. Because of the Ichibi's whispers in my mind, the attacks, and what people said to me, I began losing myself. They saw me as a monster, and not as myself. I didn't exist to them, and I wanted to exist. So I started acting like what they said I was."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Naruto wince. Had he considered taking the same path, himself, before he had anyone to look at him and see 'Naruto'? The question filled her with a sort of anguish. Sometimes, humans, herself included, disgusted her with their cruelty toward each other.

But Gaara wasn't yet done. "At six they put me on a Genin Team. The Jounin leader tried to poison me our first mission. I killed them all. And the next Team. Then, instead of a Team, they gave me ANBU handlers. They died, too. But then, they realized that I had never, and wouldn't, hurt my siblings. So they put them on a Team with me. Temari and Kankurou knew what our father was doing to me, so they… protected me. And for them, I became Gaara, not the Jinchuuriki."

"Our father loved power, and he hated it that Gaara's power wasn't his to control. But when he found out that he couldn't kill Gaara, he realized that other nations could try to make Gaara defect and that Gaara would have ample reason to go. So he started the rumors of Gaara's insanity and bloodlust, to make sure the other Hidden Villages feared Gaara as much as he did." Temari put in grimly.

Naruto's eyes flicked between Temari and Gaara. "So…they lied about you, said that you were evil and violent, so that no one would try to help you?"

"They couldn't completely control me," Gaara said. "But they did what they could to do so. By giving me nowhere else to run, they were giving themselves some control."

"So you ran _to _nowhere. You became a _nukenin_," Sakura said.

"Better to have no allies than allies who are really enemies in disguise," Gaara explained. "It took years until we were in a position to have a chance at surviving outside the Village. And now… In some ways, we are safer now as _nukenin_."

"Yeah, we know how _that _goes," Sasuke muttered, and Team Seven exchanged wry looks of agreement. Gaara's head tilted to the side.

"We _are _brothers by circumstance," he said, agreeing with Naruto's earlier sentiment, "but I think you can understand why I might still not be inclined to trust. Tell me your warning, and I'll decide whether to trust your words or not."

"But—" Naruto started. Sasuke cut in over him:

"Danzo, the false Hokage of Konoha, is allied with the Akatsuki. I'm going to assume you know that they are slowly taking over each Hidden Village and installing their own members as the leaders, but they are also collecting the Bijuu. Genshi believes that Akatsuki and Danzo intend to use the Bijuu to help conquer the rest of the Nations, and to help them maintain control over those they have already conquered. It seems that when they encounter a Bijuu sealed in a Jinchuuriki, they extract the Beast, and kill the host. It is probable they are aware of your existence, so your life is in danger. As well, if you are caught, the danger Akatsuki and Danzo pose to the rest of us increases with your power."

"So you're not just warning us from the goodness of your hearts," Kankurou snarked. The response, surprisingly, came from Temari.

"Don't be an ass, Kankurou," she said briskly. "They can't afford to be that altruistic. It's enough that they're warning us instead of pursuing their other options."

"Yeah, well _we _can't afford to trust anyone who comes to us, no matter how 'helpful' they're being," Kankurou retorted.

"Danzo and his little Akatsuki friends already have the Yonbi, Gobi, Shichibi, and Hachibi," Sakura put in. "So take our warning as you will."

"I won't deny that I don't want me and my friends to suffer, should Akatsuki get and abuse the power of the Ichibi," Naruto said, meeting Gaara's gaze. "But I also don't want that to happen because it would mean you'd die. As Jinchuuriki, we have a connection that others don't have, and if we can't count on goodwill from each other, what can we hope to have from everyone else? I hope you've listened and will remember what we've said."

Naruto jerked his chin at Sakura and Sasuke, indicating that they were leaving. Sakura blinked, a little surprised, and Sasuke frowned, but neither said anything. They turned with Naruto and started walking away. A few paces away, Naruto stopped and said, over his shoulder: "Gaara. If… If you ever need any help, Genshi's base is in _Chi no Mori_."

Then they were gone.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**nukenin—**missing nin. People who have left their Village and given up their loyalties.

**tekko—**armor covering the forearm, usually from wrist to elbow. Canon ANBU wear grey ones that cover the top of the forearm.

**nindo—**ninja way. This seems to mean the creed a ninja lives by, often a personal one, though Naruto likes to infect other people with his. :P


	4. Report

_TH: I'm sure some of you will be angry with what I did (or kept over from the manga) in this chapter. Sorry. There have to be some deaths in war, or else there is no tension, no drama, no drive._

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******SHADES

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**Chapter Four— Report

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_**Eight Years Ago**_

_ There had been no official announcement, but everyone knew all the same. About three years ago, the Uchiha Clan attempted a coup d'etat. They failed, thanks in part to a few Konoha-loyal Uchiha. Most of the Clan was killed. That included Uchiha Madara, who had been killed by Uchiha Itachi. It wasn't official, no, but it was still common knowledge._

_ Which was why, when the Intelligence Department received a coded missive, marked urgent, from one of their premier spies that read "_Uchiha Madara killed by Ame _nukenin _called Pein_" they were rather confused and worried. They relayed the message to the Hokage, whose answer was "Don't worry about it." Of course, those weren't the exact words, but pared down that was the gist of it. The answer that really told the Intelligence Department exact what the Hokage thought of the message was the way the Sandaime immediately and quietly called Uchiha Itachi to his office._

_ Not long after that, Uchiha Itachi, at the time approximately fifteen years of age, was sent on a long-term solo mission outside of the bounds of Konoha. The details of his mission were classified S-class._

_ It wasn't long after _that _that the Intelligence Department started receiving coded messages from a new source, known only as Crow. Crow's first message read: "_Uchiha Madara confirmed dead, last death. Ame _nukenin _Pein dead from injuries and drain from use of Rinnegan."

_The mention of the Rinnegan had the Intelligence workers gaping in disbelief, but they were wise enough to keep their comments behind tightly sealed lips. Probably they had never resented their sworn oath to secrecy so much as at that moment. Such a message, and they were not allowed to discuss it!_

_ Subsequent messages from Crow were few and far apart, and always infuriatingly terse. _"Akatsuki forming. Leader unknown." "Akatsuki member Hidan eliminated."

_It was impossible for Konoha to send return messages, because of the nature of espionage. So the Crow messages trickled in, maybe one every several months, until three years had passed. Then there was no way for the Intelligence Department to tell Crow or their other spies that the Sandaime was on his deathbed, and that a new Hokage was being chosen. And then there was no way to tell them that Councilmember Danzo, leader of Root, had staged a coup and taken the Hokage seat. That many Konoha-loyal ninja had been killed or driven away._

_ Crow, and the other Konoha spies, had to learn of the events that had taken place in their home Village via rumor, as the news spread through the elemental countries that a new regime had taken control of Konohagakure.

* * *

_

**Present**

"You didn't offer him an alliance," Tsunade said. It was more of a statement than a question. Team Seven shifted a little, averting their eyes.

"Well," Naruto prevaricated, "not _exactly_…"

"So you're saying that the rumors of Gaara's insanity are lies spread by the Kazekage, that Temari and Kankurou are intelligent, competent ninja, and that despite those things you didn't believe they would make appropriate allies?" Genshi's leader bent a look on them that spoke volumes.

"It's not so much that they'd make poor allies," Sakura started.

"We could trust them," Naruto interrupted, loudly. "But _they _wouldn't be able to trust _us_. Their father tried to kill Gaara too many times, and caused too much damage to others in those attempts. So now they don't trust anyone but themselves. They told us what it had been like, in Suna, and afterward it just seemed… wrong, to ask them to come and join us."

Tsunade stared at them for a little while and then sighed. "Alright. I get it."

"I did tell him if he ever needed help, that he could find us here," Naruto admitted. Tsunade stared again, then said flatly:

"I hope for your sake you're right in that we can trust them."

Naruto looked indignant. "Of course we can!"

Tsunade just shook her head and dismissed them.

* * *

"Well, that went well," Sasuke said with his personal brand of biting sarcasm.

"I thought _Shishou_ would kill us for a second there," Sakura muttered.

"We won't be able to ask for any mission without her bringing this one up," Sasuke observed. "We practically failed it, and after we finished telling her how we could handle higher class missions, too."

"It wasn't _that _bad," Naruto grumbled, looking very put out.

"Naruto," Sakura said, "this mission wasn't just a mission for Genshi. It was a test for us. We asked for the very important mission in going to Konoha to gather our friends, she told us she didn't think us ready, and then she sent us on a different mission. Alone. No Kakashi, no ranking ninja. Just the three of us. She was testing us to see if maybe we _were _prepared for missions like going to Konoha. And we just showed her that that no, we weren't."

"Why? We warned Gaara, nobody died… Just because we couldn't get him to join up with us doesn't mean we failed."

"Idiot," Sasuke said. "We went running into the mission without thinking about the consequences. As a result, we got stuck in a battle that, while it ended well, didn't really have to happen at all. If we had stopped to think about how best to approach Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou, we might not have had to fight at all. And maybe starting out on better ground would have made them more receptive to the offer to an alliance."

"Oh…" Naruto said. He was silent a moment before casting a hopeful look at Sakura. "Tsunade didn't just send us without Kakashi because she knew we could do it?"

"She probably knew we wouldn't completely fail," Sakura admitted. "But sending us without Kakashi… it was the perfect opportunity to see how well we function on a mission without a leader."

"…Damn."

"Yep."

"So what do we do now?" Naruto almost wailed. He rubbed his hands through his hair vigorously. "We _have _to be three of the people she sends to Konoha! I want… I want to…"

"That might not be possible," Sasuke said. Naruto growled softly. The Uchiha shot him a look. "Well, face it. We messed up."

"Don't start fighting or we'll never get sent on _any _mission ever again," Sakura warned darkly. "Come on, let's go find Kakashi-sensei or some one. We've been gone a little over two weeks; maybe something new has happened."

"Maybe Danzo choked on some ramen noodles and died," Naruto muttered. Sasuke snorted.

"Don't hold your breath."

"That would be a rather poetic end for him, though, wouldn't it?" Sakura smirked. "Come on."

They trooped down the corridors of Genshi's base, searching for someone they could pump for information. It was easier said than done; at a time there were only about forty people at the base, with about a dozen of those on patrol outside. Not all of the remainder were known very well to Team Seven. At least not well enough that they could pester them for information. They nodded to a few people, but went on.

Finally, though, they came across someone they _could_ pester.

"Shisui-san!" Naruto caroled, and skipped toward the unsuspecting Uchiha. Sasuke sighed, but followed. Sakura snickered.

Shisui turned and lifted an eyebrow at the three younger Genshi coming toward him. Once Naruto reached him, the blond slung an arm over the much-taller Uchiha's shoulders. All of the Uchiha (or at least the eight that had survived the Coup Attempt) had been with Genshi from the start… Danzo wasn't particularly fond of the Clan, so when he took over Konoha, the Uchiha fled. They were lucky their Clan Head was as perceptive and quick as she was, to get them out before Danzo could rain hell down on them.

…Sasuke's mother really was an amazing woman.

In any case, having been in Genshi with the Uchiha since the beginning, and having an Uchiha on their team, Team Seven was well acquainted with Shisui. They had even gone on a mission with him and his Team, three Chuunin who had also once been his Genin students.

"Ah, Naruto, Sakura, and my little cousin Sasuke," Shisui said, a spark of mischief in his eye as he saw Sasuke scowl at the title. The older Uchiha gave a sidelong look at Naruto, who was still hanging on him. "And what might you three want?"

"Ouch, Shisui-san," Naruto pouted, "What makes you assume we want something? Can't we be friendly just cuz?"

"You're very obvious," Shisui told Naruto, wryly. Naruto grinned at him.

"We just got back from a mission. Two weeks and a couple days," Sakura said, smiling at Shisui. "We were looking for someone to tell us what's been going on while we were gone. We found you. Lucky you."

"Oh, joy," Shisui drawled, but he looked amused. He shook his head. "Alright, I'll tell you. I've got some time on my hands before I've gotta meet up with my kids."

"Your _Team_," Sakura said, "would kill you very dead if they heard you call them kids."

Shisui smirked. "What they don't know won't kill them. Or me. Besides, I rank them, so they're still kids."

"So when they reach Jounin you'll stop calling them that?"

"Oh no," the smirk became a toothy grin, "then they'll be _kohai_."

Naruto laughed. Sakura looked briefly startled, then a little awed. She said, appreciatively: "You're _evil_."

"I try," he replied modestly. Sasuke snorted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like:

"No, you don't; you're naturally like this."

He choked as Shisui laughed and seized him in a headlock, shrugging off Naruto's arm as he did so. "Love you, too, cousin."

"_Get. Off,_" the cold imperative was somewhat diminished by the strangled tone of Sasuke's voice, but Shisui complied anyway.

"Alright, so you want to know what's been going on? Let's get out of the hallway, then. Follow me."

Shisui led them toward the closest free-room, which happened to be the mess hall. It was mostly deserted, except for a few groups—likely the next teams assigned to patrol duty, eating before their shift. Shisui sat down at one of the many long tables left empty, and Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto joined him.

"Okay, here's what I know." Shisui looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, obviously gathering his thoughts. "I suppose to start, I should tell you the good news. Kurenai had her baby, a boy. Makoto."

Sakura smiled. "Sarutobi Makoto. It's a good name."

Sasuke hummed his agreement. Rather like the Uchiha, the remnants of the Sarutobi clan were not in Danzo's good-graces. They were the Sandaime Hokage's family, and had all inherited the same views and ideals as the old leader, the views that Danzo had not agreed with. Asuma and Konohamaru had fled Konoha after Danzo's assumption of power. Kurenai had followed her lover, Asuma. When Genshi formed, they were a part of it, just like Team Seven and just like the Uchiha. The two (now small, thanks to the ravages of time and misfortune) clans had actually become quite close, in those early days of Genshi.

Naruto was beaming like it was his son that had just been born. He said: "That's great! We should go and congratulate them later."

"Don't celebrate so soon," Shisui said, unsmiling. Team Seven sobered up quickly. "There were also four deaths in Genshi."

Fear and worry touched their expressions.

"Who?" Sasuke asked.

"A whole Team. Three Chuunin named Arizawa Juubei, Odan Kin, and Uesudo Ryouta, and… and Sarutobi Asuma," Shisui looked grim. Sakura gasped.

"No…" Naruto whispered, "Asuma-sensei?"

"Afraid so," Shisui said. "He was sent with the Team to investigate suspected Akatsuki activity near a shrine in Wave Country. The whole Team was wiped out. Apparently, they got into an altercation with the Akatsuki there."

"No, no," Sakura said, her eyes burning, "No! Not when his son was just born! No!"

"Did he…?" Sasuke trailed off, looking pained. Shisui knew what he was getting at.

"He had to leave for the mission the day after Makoto was born. So he got to see his son, but…"

"Damn," Naruto said. The word was little more than a sob. "Damn it…"

"Why didn't _Shishou _tell us?" Sakura wondered quietly. There were tears in her eyes. Shisui shook his head.

"She probably didn't think of it. Her mind is filled already with worries," Shisui said. "A scout team was sent out after they didn't report back; they found the bodies. From what evidence they brought back, Itachi was able to identify the Akatsuki involved. Tsunade-sama is trying to think of what to do. Obviously, she wants revenge, but she doesn't want to send more of us to die."

Naruto made a strangled sort of noise. Sakura reached for his hand, as much for her comfort as for his. He squeezed her hand tightly. "Which Akatsuki? Which ones did it?"

"Itachi was sure that it was Orochimaru and Kisame."

"Orochimaru," repeated Sakura, eyes narrowing in disgust and hate. It was a common response of loyal Konoha ninja to the name. The Snake Sannin was one of old Konoha's more infamous _nukenin_. Apparently now he was an ally to Danzo's new Konoha. It was a fact that infuriated any Leaf ninja possessing the Will of Fire. "That man really needs to die."

Shisui smirked darkly. "We're working on that."

"Any other news?" Sasuke asked. Shisui thought a moment, then shook his head.

"Nothing else, really. You were here for the big announcement. We haven't seen any other big movements from Danzo or the Akatsuki. The war's still going. That's about it."

"Fantastic," grumbled Naruto. Shisui stood.

"I've gotta get to my Team now. I'd say 'don't do anything stupid', but it's you guys, so I'm just going to say 'don't get yourselves killed.'"

"Thanks Shisui-san," Sakura said wryly. "You have a mission? Then, good luck."

They exchanged good-byes and the Team Seven was sitting morosely at the table alone. Genshi had lost one of its top members, Sarutobi Makoto had lost his father before he even knew him, and they couldn't do anything about it except hope that they got the chance to make sure it never happened to anyone else ever again.

Sometimes, one of the worst feelings in the world is helplessness.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**kohai—** Part of Japanese social structure. A younger/less experienced member of an organization, or company. Kohai are expected to respect and obey their senpai (older/more experienced person), who in turn watch over and mentor their kohai. Of course, less-than-nice people can abuse kohai deference.


	5. Luck

_TH: Nothing much to say. Please review!  
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******SHADES

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**Chapter Five— Luck**

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_Eleven Years Ago_**

_It took a while after the attempted Uchiha Coup for Sakura to see Sasuke and Itachi in the training fields again. In the months leading up to the coup attempt, she had enjoyed the company and benefits of sharing a training field with the two Uchiha boys. Itachi had helped her with the skills she had trouble on—like shuriken and kunai throwing—and answered the questions she had about _ninjutsu _that her textbooks didn't explain. Sasuke had been rude and mean, at first, but had grudgingly, finally, accepted her presence. Training with him gave her some one to pit her achievements against—if Sasuke could get four out of five bulls-eyes, then Sakura would match it._

_ But after the fighting that had taken place, after most of the Uchiha Clan had died, Itachi and Sasuke didn't come to the training field for a long while. Sakura knew why, but she couldn't help but feel lonely as she practiced by herself. She was ecstatic when, one day, she went to her usual training field and found the two Uchiha boys already there, waiting for her. She had barely restrained her urge to run to them and hug them with every fiber of her being. But, being an intelligent girl, she had realized that they might not appreciate such a gesture very much. She settled for beaming widely at them and showing Itachi how much she'd been practicing while he'd been away._

_ Then came the day, a few months later, when Sakura went to the training field to find only Sasuke there. Itachi, he said, was going to be late. He didn't know why, Itachi had just told him to go to the training field and wait. So he was. Sakura waited with Sasuke. But when Itachi finally came, he wasn't alone! He'd brought another of Sakura's classmates with him: the troublemaker, Uzumaki Naruto. And he said he wanted Naruto to train with Sasuke and Sakura! How could he? These training sessions were _special _and for Sakura and Sasuke only! And why bring Naruto into them? He was the worst in the class…_

_ Although, thinking about it, that did seem like a good reason to give Naruto extra lessons…_

_ But Itachi was immoveable in the face of Sasuke and Sakura's protests and pouting. And, after time, they warmed to Naruto, and Naruto forgave their initial treatment of him, and they became friends._

_ The training sessions had no set schedule; they had them when they could, with Itachi's obligations as a full-fledged shinobi of Konoha occasional breaking into their time together. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto ended up having only a little less than three years (and short intermittent breaks throughout) with Itachi before the elder Uchiha boy was sent on a long-term, far away mission. Sakura cried when she found out, sad that the special training sessions would end. But Naruto was determined never to let his new friends go, and from sheer force of will, kept the trio together, and demanded that they keep training together as they had. Their friendship grew stronger._

_ Then they graduated from the Academy, and Sakura heard that the way they picked Genin Teams was to balance skill levels—the top student would be with the worst, and the Team moderated with a middle-class student. Sakura was horrified, because, thanks to private tutoring from Itachi, she and Sasuke were the top two students—Sasuke for the boys, and Sakura for the girls—and Naruto, though hampered by his inexplicable inability to perform simple curriculum _jutsu_, had climbed the ranks to the approximate middle. They almost certainly would be separated._

_ Except, for some reason, they were not. Sakura remembered being equal parts relieved and confused when the assignments were read out and she was teamed with Sasuke and Naruto. The two boys, of course, tried to act like they knew it would happen all along, but Sakura thought she could see the relief in their faces, as much as they tried to hide it._

_ She wondered, later, if the rumor of the method for picking Teams was just that, a rumor, and not really how it was done. But when she looked at the other Teams, she could see that it held mostly true. Why was her Team so top-heavy, then, with the top kunoichi and top shinobi of the graduating class, and Naruto a mid-level shinobi?_

_ When Itachi had brought them all together, Sakura had wondered why he picked her and Naruto to train with his brother. Out of all the Academy-potentials in the Village, why them? Could it have been because he knew they were going to be on the same Genin Team? No, that was ridiculous. How would he have known? However else they decided the Teams, Sakura was sure they didn't do so years in advance. How would they know who would graduate and who wouldn't? No, Itachi couldn't have known that Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto would be on the same Team._

_ Maybe someone had seen Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto's practices in the training field after class. Maybe they saw how well the three worked together and decided to keep the self-developed team together after graduation, even though it was an unfair balance of skill. That was the most likely explanation._

**

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**Present**

With a relatively small number of ninja, and not all of them of the same level, the Teams of Genshi were often fluid. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura often worked together—because of how well they meshed, having been together more-or-less since they were six—but they were lumped in with other Genshi on a regular basis. Tsunade often used Kakashi (one of Genshi's best and strongest) for other missions, one that were deemed too dangerous for ninja of lower rank, which left Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura with substitute leaders. They also worked with others of their level, for missions that required larger teams, and alone, for their patrol-duty and for small missions.

In some ways, Sakura missed what they had had before the Fall, when they were all together, all the time. The missions may have been lame (like catching that stupid cat), but at least it had been Team Seven. _All _of Team Seven. Now they were lucky if they could all train together. It had been a few weeks since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had returned to base after the mission to contact Gaara and his siblings, and in that time, they had only been able to train with Kakashi three times. The rest of the time, Kakashi was either doing training too advanced for them or was out on his own missions.

Today wasn't much different. Kakashi was training with Uchiha Itachi, gaining mastery over the Mangekyo Sharingan he had activated only about a year ago. Itachi had had the Mangekyo since the Uchiha Coup Attempt, they said, and had been a master of the normal Sharingan even before that. It was probably a good idea for him to tutor Kakashi in the finer points of Sharingan use, but it still meant that Team Seven was once again without their sensei.

Which probably meant that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura would end up training themselves. Which probably meant that they'd also end up getting chewed out by Tsunade for destroying another training room. It seemed to be their habit. They'd complete all the normal training exercises, but then one of them (usually one of the boys) would declare a free-for-all three-way spar. And then whatever room they were in would get trashed. Sakura would punch craters in the floor, ceiling, and walls. Naruto would Rasengan some more craters, and Sasuke would fireball or lightning-scorch whatever the other two had missed.

It was fortunate that they weren't left to their own devices too frequently. If not Kakashi, then someone else would supervise their training. Sometimes it was Jiraiya, when the Toad Sannin wasn't out doing his duty as Genshi's spy-master. Sometimes it was Gai-sensei, joined by Lee and Tenten. Sometimes it was Shizune, sent by Tsunade specifically to make sure the destruction didn't happen.

This method didn't always work, particularly when it wasn't prescheduled training. After they'd found out about Asuma's death, Team Seven had destroyed no less than three training rooms. It was common in ninja to respond to death by going out and destroying something—themselves (with drink, or chakra exhaustion), or something or someone else. Team Seven's helpless fury at Asuma's death—right after his son's birth—had not be sated with just one room reduced to rubble. They'd had to go on to tear apart two more before they were tired enough that their grief and anger were numbed and muted. The rampage had earned them a very stern talking-to by an ex-ANBU shinobi called Tenzo, who, with his _mokuton jutsu _and affinity for earth, was in charge of keeping the base intact and structurally sound. He hadn't been pleased by Team Seven's attempt at subverting his efforts.

Today, Tenzo—and Room 57—was lucky; when Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura entered it, there were two Chuunin already gong through some exercises on one end. In the interest of not causing unfortunate casualties, the trio stuck to a normal training regimen.

When they were done, they broke to go get cleaned up, and regrouped for lunch. It was in the middle of their meal that Shizune found them.

"Tsunade-sama wants you three to report to her office," she glanced at their half-eaten food, "after you finished eating. Don't make it too long."

"What for?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of noodles. Shizune shook her head, walking away. She wasn't going to tell. Naruto chewed hurriedly, swallowed, and muttered to his Teammates: "Do you think she's still mad at us? We haven't had a single mission since the one to warn Gaara."

"I don't think so," Sakura said, frowning after Shizune. As sister-apprentices under Tsunade, Sakura knew Shizune well enough to read most of her expressions and body-language. The older kunoichi was worried about something.

Team Seven looked down at their food, and up at each other. Sasuke stood up. "I'm done."

Sakura scrambled up. "Me, too."

Naruto stuffed one more bite into his mouth and nodded.

* * *

"You've had a month to figure out your mistakes in your last mission," Tsunade said to them once they were standing in front of her desk.

"Yes, we've… talked about it a few times," Sakura said after a brief silence. Tsunade leaned back, and gestured slightly.

"Good. Tell me what went wrong, then."

"We charged in without thinking the mission through," Sasuke answered. "Which resulted in a situation we did not have full control of. So our mission was not so much a success as a salvage. We made the best of what happened, but it could have been better."

"Right. You didn't think, didn't plan. You are inexperienced, reckless." Tsunade paused, watching how her words affected them. "You understand, now, why I said you weren't ready for a mission like infiltrating Konoha. You're arrogant. You know you're strong, and you think that's enough. You didn't plan because, to a certain extent, you didn't believe you needed to."

She folded her arms and sighed. Sakura could see the annoyance on her face clearly. "However, you three are also something of Genshi's mascots. You were the Team sent to retrieve me five years ago. Danzo tried to kill you—claims you are dead—so that people couldn't ask you the truth of what happened back then. But you're alive. You are proof of Danzo's lies. Your presence, your continued existence, challenges his rule. You are also peers to the children of essentially all the major clans of Konoha. Through you, Genshi has contacts with the Hyuuga, Akimichi, Nara, Inuzuka, Yamanaka, and Aburame."

"To be fair," Sasuke said, "my brother has more of a connection to the Aburame than we do. We don't know Shino very well, but my brother was Teammates with an Aburame."

"That is true, but my point remains," Tsunade said. "Because of your connections with so many of Konoha's ninja clans, and because of your inherent status as opponents of Danzo, you three are good candidates for the mission of infiltrating Konoha and recruiting for Genshi."

"…_Shishou_?" Sakura asked, puzzled.

"But," Tsunade glared at them, "you are still not really prepared. You're not experienced enough. Which is why I'm sending two experienced Genshi with you."

It took them a moment to realize what she'd said. Then Naruto bounced forward: "Eh? What? You're sending us? Really?"

"I don't like it," the Slug Sannin told them bluntly. "But you're good choices because of what you represent. Because of who your friends are. So, yes, I'm sending you. But with supervision and leadership. And the hope that you've grow somewhat in the last four weeks."

"Alright!" crowed Team Seven's exuberant blond member.

"Naruto," Sakura said, her tone calming him and making him look back at her and Sasuke. He noticed his two Teammates weren't looking as excited as he felt. In fact, they looked suspicious.

"Who, exactly, are these two experienced Genshi you're sending with us?" asked Sasuke, in a tone that suggested he already knew.

Tsunade smirked.

"Hatake Kakashi… and Uchiha Itachi."

* * *

"On the one hand, this is a cool opportunity. We're going to be working with two of the most skilled, powerful shinobi in Genshi. If not _the _two most powerful, skilled shinobi," Sakura said. "On the other hand…"

"On the other hand, Tsunade just basically told us our primary objective on this mission is to look pretty," Sasuke said, scowling.

"That's a little exaggerated, but essentially, yes. She right-out told us that we weren't picked for our skills but for who we know. If it weren't for that, she wouldn't be sending us at all."

"Stop _emphasizing _that," Naruto grumbled. "I'm trying to pretend I still have some pride left, and you're making it difficult."

"Sorry, Naruto, I'll take more care of your imaginary pride next time," Sakura said sarcastically. He stuck his tongue out at her.

"They're not going to be particularly happy, being saddled with us," Sasuke observed, apparently ignoring the squabble occurring beside him. "Not after our last mission."

Sakura and Naruto winced; by 'they' Sasuke meant, of course, Kakashi and Itachi. Both had been Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's teachers, and had been intensely disappointed with the Team's performance (although Kakashi was a bit more demonstrative of his displeasure). They'd probably be as upset as Tsunade was, admitting that Team Seven was a good choice for this mission. Or more so, since they were the ones picked to, essentially, baby-sit the three younger ninja.

"They'll kill us," Naruto said glumly.

"A little melodramatic, Naruto," Sakura said. He looked at her, indignant.

"Tell me I'm wrong," he challenged. She rolled her eyes, and Sasuke expected her to lift a fist to bonk the blond on the head, but instead, she froze. And Naruto froze. And they stared at him.

No. Not at Sasuke, at something over his shoulder. Sasuke turned and came face-to-face with his older brother. He took a step back; he could hear Sakura give a short, nervous cough behind him.

"Otouto," the older Uchiha said. His dark eyes then slid to his brother's Teammates. "Haruno-san. Uzumaki-san."

"Nii-san," Sasuke said. "I guess you've see Tsunade-sama?"

Itachi inclined his head.

"We're looking forward to working with you on this mission," Sakura offered, a little hesitantly. The slightest smile crossed Itachi's face.

"I am also looking forward to working with Team Seven. Tsunade-sama has assured me that, despite your recklessness, you manage to be an effective team."

"Great," Sakura muttered, deflated.

"Nii-san," Sasuke grumbled, "did you have something you wanted to tell us?"

"We're leaving at first light," Itachi said. "Pack for efficiency and speed."

"Understood," Sasuke said for them all. His brother nodded, glanced over Naruto and Sakura once more, and then turned to leave. He paused a moment at the threshold of the room, and said:

"And don't worry, Uzumaki-san. I wouldn't risk the mission by killing my Teammates."

Naruto made a sound not unlike a dying mouse.

* * *

"Yo."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke flinched, and looked up at Kakashi with varying degrees of guilt in their expressions. Kakashi's visible eye crinkled with his smile. Naruto said, nervously: "Kakashi-sensei."

"How are my favorite students?" the grey-haired shinobi asked, tilting his head toward the three younger ninja. Sasuke was inspecting a set of shuriken and Sakura was going over her med-kit. She looked up, a vial of unidentified liquid in one hand.

"Favorite students?" she repeated warily. "Clearly you haven't spoken with Tsunade-shishou yet."

"Oh no, I have," Kakashi disagreed easily. "But I'm confident that you three have gotten better since your last mission. If not… Well, it's nothing a bit of extra training won't fix. Provided we're still alive."

There were two worrying things about this statement. One: The promise of 'extra training' was more like a threat. An upset Kakashi meant near-death experiences in their next training session. And two: 'provided we're still alive'? Not reassuring.

"Ngh," Naruto said.

"I'm glad you agree!" Kakashi said, then he sobered, and pinned the three with a very sharp look. "You three will listen and obey on this mission, understood? It's a dangerous one, for more than one reason."

"Yeah," Sakura said. "Root are our enemy; they'll try to kill us if they see us. And not only that, but Danzo still wants the Bijuu."

"Right," Kakashi nodded. "This is a delicate mission for you, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah," the blond said flippantly. Kakashi leaned over him until Naruto met his eyes—eye—seriously. "I know, Kakashi. They want to capture me, because of the Kyuubi."

Naruto gave a sharp smile. "But I don't envy whoever tries to take me out."

Kakashi withdrew, shaking his head in what appeared to be a mix of exasperation and amusement. He turned to Sasuke and added: "Danzo has also displayed an interest in the Sharingan. As much as he hates the Uchiha, he very much covets the power of your _doujutsu_. So you should take care as well, Sasuke."

"You and my brother also have the Sharingan, and you're on the mission too," Sasuke said, obviously annoyed that Kakashi believed him to need the warning.

"Itachi-san and I also have years of practice and experience in evading people trying to steal our eyes," Kakashi pointed out patiently, "you do not. I want you all to be very aware of the gravity of this mission. Tsunade-sama may have determined that the pros outweigh the cons in terms of sending you three on this mission, but that doesn't mean we can ignore the cons."

"We understand, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said. "Even if we joke about it, we understand."

"We've never failed a mission because of negligence. We might make mistakes because we don't have enough experience, but we've always taken our missions seriously," Sasuke added.

"I know," Kakashi assured them. "It's why I didn't protest when Tsunade-sama assigned you to this one."

Somewhat reassured that not everyone thought them fumbling idiots, Sakura asked: "Can you tell us exactly what our orders are, sensei?"

Kakashi smiled at her. "We're going to infiltrate the second-level perimeter of Konoha, before sending message scrolls to those we believe loyal inside the Village. The messages will specify a meeting place and time. We'll meet any who wish to join Genshi there."

"Simple enough," Sakura said, nodding. Orders generally were, especially under Tsunade, who tended to follow the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Kakashi nodded agreement.

"Of course, it's an A-ranked mission," he cautioned. "It's simple, but it is an operation in enemy territory. It could become less simple very quickly."

"We understand, sensei," Sasuke said. "All our missions as Team Seven tend to do that. We're used to it."

"They do, don't they?" Kakashi murmured thoughtfully.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**otouto—**little brother

**doujutsu— **ninja eye techniques. The Sharingan, Rinnegan, and Byakugan are examples.


	6. Mobilize

_TH: Who didn't see this coming?  
_

_

* * *

_

******SHADES

* * *

**

**Chapter Six— Mobilize

* * *

**

_**Five Years Ago**_

_ It took Team Seven, plus Sai, three months to locate Tsunade after leaving Konoha. The former Konoha kunoichi hadn't much wanted to be found by anyone from the Village that had taken everything she loved away from her, so she didn't leave much of a trail to follow. A series of false names, occasional disguises, and no paper-trail made Team Seven's task of finding Senju Tsunade before any back-up Root assassins did very nerve-wracking. They feared that, by the time they did find her, all they would get was a corpse, or a grave._

_ They found another Sannin first; the Toad Sage Jiraiya. Once a proud Konoha shinobi, Jiraiya had been disillusioned by war, his Teammate—Orochimaru's—betrayal, and the death of his student and almost-son Namikaze Minato. The Toad Sannin had gone off the active-duty roster of the Village and left, ostensibly to wander and write his novels. But in truth, Jiraiya maintained a close connection to Konoha through his teacher, the Sandaime Hokage. The Hokage kept the Sannin informed as to the events in the Village, and Jiraiya kept Konoha abreast of important information in the Elemental Nations. He was, for lack of a better term, Konoha's master spy. _

_ When Jiraiya had stopped receiving messages from Sarutobi, he had suspected that something was going on in Konoha, but being the wily old shinobi that he was, had not gone to the Village himself to check it out. Instead he'd used his own spy network, his own sources, to acquire the information._

_ By the time his sources reported back to him, it had progressed far enough that the news Jiraiya received was thus:_

_The Sandaime Hokage had died._

_The Hokage-candidate Senju Tsunade had refused the seat._

_Shimura Danzo had claimed the seat himself and had brought his ANBU Root up into a position of eminence, displacing the normal ANBU._

_ Jiraiya had known Danzo well enough to be uneased by this information. Danzo had always coveted the Hokage's position, desired the office for himself. He had never liked the previous Hokages' philosophies or ideals, had always viewed what was 'good' or 'best' for Konoha to be something utterly different. He was more militarily minded. More unforgiving in his methods of achieving his goals._

_ Jiraiya knew that it was entirely possible that Tsunade had indeed refused to return and accept the position. But some instinct in him was screaming at him to find her and make sure. And ninja often listened to their instincts. He had set out looking for his old Teammate, and had found Team Seven, who were also looking.

* * *

_

**Present**

Team Amatsubame, as they had been dubbed for the purposes of this mission, traveled light and swift, leaping from branch to branch, as was the normal mode of transportation for ninja in forested areas. They moved as quickly and flitted as agilely through the trees as their Team namesake.

Sakura and Naruto had traded in their cloth masks for porcelain ones like their Sharingan-wielding Teammates. All five of Team Amatsubame were clad in dark clothes, nondescript. Their only identifying articles were their Genshi headbands, uniformly tied around their right biceps. They looked cold, calm. Ruthlessly efficient. There was no foolishness, no bickering, no conversation at all as they traveled; as they had claimed, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were perfectly capable of taking a mission seriously and acting professionally. They could not fail; their mission now was too important. They knew it, so it showed in how they bore themselves.

It took them about a day to reach the border of Fire Country. As night fell, Kakashi lifted a fist in the air, signaling a stop. They all landed on tree-boughs around him, and watched as his hands flicked through some command signals: _Stop. Setting camp. Secure perimeter in pattern twelve. Go._

They broke, and as per Kakashi's silent orders, made sure there were no threats in the immediate area and set alarms to warn if any came near. When they reconvened, Naruto shrugged off his pack, which contained the Team's cooking implements. Each member helped carry the Team's equipment; Naruto had the foodstuffs, Sakura had the medical equipment, Kakashi and Sasuke carried the bedrolls, and Itachi carried their water bottles, extra weapons, and the message scrolls they were to deliver to certain parties in Konohagakure no Sato.

Kakashi gave the hand signal for _all clear, _implying that they could talk, quietly. Sakura eyed her Teammates critically, and thought that they all looked in fine shape, but asked to make sure: "Everyone's all good, right? No strained muscles? Anything?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright," Sakura said absently, stretching her arms out. She hadn't really expected any problems.

"We're far enough from the border patrol path and any villages that a campfire would be safe enough. I'll set some snares, and hopefully, we'll have a rabbit or two for dinner," Kakashi said. "We'll save our rations until we need to use them. Naruto, grab some dry wood for a fire."

"I'm on it," Naruto said, and trotted into the trees to find some fallen branches. The others continued setting up camp; Sasuke clearing the ground to bare dirt for a firepit, Sakura hauling off their water bottles to a nearby stream for refills.

It didn't take long until they were gathered around their camp, smelling the rabbit roasting and drinking the specially-designed herbal tea that Genshi's medical experts had developed to replenish everything Teams in the field might need after extended travel. It was slightly bitter and salty, but after their hours-long cross-country travel, it actually tasted good to them. They drained the cups, finished cooking the rabbit, and ate quickly. After they'd buried the remnants of the meal, they sat around the low-burning fire for the day-end briefing.

"Well," Kakashi said. "We made good time today, and didn't run into anything unexpected. We're in Fire Country now, as I'm sure everyone's aware. We'll need to be more vigilant from now on. With all the trouble Danzo is stirring up with the other Hidden Villages, he's going to be guarding his borders carefully. We'll have to take care not to get caught in their net."

Itachi was sitting cross-legged, hands resting on his knees. Calmly he said: "We should have a watch throughout the night. A two-person rotation would be best, I think. _Senpai_?"

Kakashi nodded. "Sounds about right. Sakura and I will take first watch, then you and Sasuke, and then I will take dawn watch with Naruto."

"Then tomorrow…" Sakura prompted.

"Tomorrow we'll make our way to Konoha. Once again under silence, hand signals only. We probably won't make it all the way to the Village before dark, though."

"What if we just move faster?" Naruto wanted to know. His hands were fists at his sides, no doubt thinking about their friends still in Konoha.

"Speed breeds recklessness, and urges us to be sloppy," Itachi said. "It would be better to act on the side of caution. If we are caught…"

"Bad things happen," Sakura muttered. She blinked when Itachi's eyes slid to her.

"If we are caught, bad things happen," he agreed with a measure of wry amusement. "So we're not going to rush in."

* * *

It was the third day of their travel when they came upon the caravan. They were a couple hours yet from Konoha's walls, and just crossing one of the major roads that crossed Fire Country when Itachi, their pointsman for that day, held up the '_stop' _fist. They froze, and strained their ears as the older Uchiha brother made the signal for _'listen_'.

Wheels creaking and grumbling over packed dirt and rocks. Voices in low conversation. The sounds of a group of people and at least two carts traveling down the road, toward Konoha.

The Genshi tightened their group, and looked to their two leaders for the decision. Kakashi and Itachi had a brief moment of trading hand signs, and then Kakashi turned to the group and began signaling orders.

_Divide to three groups. Observe target. Report back. Ten minutes. _They nodded understanding, and then Kakashi signaled the groups. _Naruto, Sasuke. Sakura, Itachi. Myself alone._

For a moment, Sakura wanted to squawk. Why did she have to be with Itachi? But it made perfect sense, really. Naruto was a brawler, a heavy-hitter. Sasuke had distance attacks, _genjutsu_, and his Sharingan. Sakura, from virtue of her lessons with Tsunade, was also capable of melee, close-in fighting. And her partner Itachi had the same strengths as his brother. Kakashi had his borrowed Sharingan, at least moderate strength in hand-to-hand, and had his nin-dog summons to back him up.

If she were entirely honest with herself, she'd admit that her reticence at the groupings was due to the fact that, plainly put, Itachi intimidated her. Sure she had seen his human side when they were younger, and he acted almost like an older brother to her. But he'd left while she was still young, and then all she got of him were stories of his exploits. By the time she'd finally seen him again in the ranks of Genshi, he had been built up in her mind as the perfect shinobi. More powerful than many of Konoha's greatest. The man who had killed Madara_._ Someone unapproachable. And he was, somewhat. She didn't know how to interact with him. Was it appropriate to act familiarly with him on basis of their casual relationship in the past? Did he remember teaching her alongside his little brother? Or were the intervening years too much to expect a return to that easy sort-of-friendship?

_:Damn it,: _Sakura thought, exasperated with herself. _:He's my comrade now. We're on a mission. That's how I'll operate.:_

She managed not to jump, just, when Itachi tapped her shoulder and signaled them out. She followed him off, as the others also broke and went to their points to surround and observe the caravan. Itachi and her spot was on the left of the road, facing Konoha-inbound. They crept closer to the caravan, staying under cover. They didn't want to use _henge _or _genjutsu _in case there were ninja with the caravan that could sense such illusions. This was good old-fashioned sneaking.

Sakura sucked in a silent breath when she got close enough to actually see the caravan. It came with a ninja complement. And they wore Konoha _hitai-ate_. Sakura fought the urge to jump over there and start tearing the lying bastards' heads off. They didn't deserve to wear those headbands! She narrowed her eyes and kept watching.

There were indeed two carts, and the ninja were concentrated around them; clearly whatever was in the carts was valuable to Danzo. Sakura counted the ninja around each: six and eight. And three civilian cart-drivers on each as well. Itachi got her attention and then signed: _One target is diversion._

Sakura looked back to the carts, looking carefully. One of the carts was a dud? How did Itachi know? There were no differences between the carts themselves, and the ninja guarding them were all attentive… Ah, there. It was clear now. You could see a definite difference between the drivers. Those on one cart were watching their surroundings nervously, the other was much more relaxed. How like Danzo to plan everything down to the detail, but to forget the civilian aspect.

She nodded understanding to Itachi, and was about to signal her observation back to him when things fell apart.

There was shouting from the caravan as the ninja detected the disturbance in the forest to their right. On their left, Sakura and Itachi watched as a tree shook, and fell, and the groundcover rustled and then was torn apart in the blink of an eye as a figure with bright blond hair flew out of the forest, onto the road.

Naruto. And he'd lost his mask somehow. Sakura half-rose from where she was lying on her belly when she saw a disheveled Sasuke burst from the forest hot on the heels of Naruto. Itachi threw an arm over her and muscled her to the ground. She fought him, but he took advantage of her distraction and kept her down. Her eyes still on Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura gasped as she saw a cowl of red chakra envelop her blond friend. The Kyuubi! What the hell was going on?

She was frozen, watching as the caravan ninja leapt at Naruto and Sasuke. The two Genshi managed to throw them off easily, and Naruto continued his single-minded dash for one of the carts—the real one. Once he reached it, he jumped on top of it, and tore at the tarps and boxes inside until he apparently found what he was looking for. Sakura glimpsed something glowing red, and then Naruto crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Sasuke was still struggling, and then he went down from sheer dint of numbers.

Sakura fought harder to escape Itachi's grip, to go and help her Teammates. But he moved quickly and immobilized her, putting his mouth to her ear and hissing: "Be still! You can't help them if you're captured as well!"

She bared her teeth at him behind her mask, but stopped struggling. He was right, not that she liked it. She watched in anguish as the caravan settled down, the ninja securing Naruto and Sasuke. Itachi pulled at her, hauling her to her feet.

"Come on," he said. "They're going to search the area to make sure there aren't more of us out here. We need to move."

She resisted a moment more, her teeth gritted, and then turned away and allowed Itachi to lead her away.

* * *

Kakashi joined up with them, and Sakura could tell he was upset. It was in the set of his shoulders. He looked at them, and they looked back, and then he said: "Shit happens. Before we can help them, we need to complete our mission. Konoha's now on guard, knowing that Naruto and Sasuke were out here. They'll expect others. We need to get in contact with our people still in the Village right away, before we're cut off from them. They can help us get our Teammates back, but we need to act fast."

Sakura had her arms firmly crossed over her chest, clenched fists hidden under her elbows. She was nearly vibrating with tension, the need to go and save her Teammates, her almost-brothers.

"There will be some lag between capturing a _Jinchuuriki_ and extracting the _Bijuu_," Itachi said. "We'll have time to save Uzumaki-san. As for my brother… Danzo wants a functional Sharingan, and will want information. He won't kill Sasuke right away, either."

Sakura thought these observations were more for her sake than anything. Itachi certainly seemed to be directing them to her, anyway. She loosened her jaw enough to say, tersely: "Let's hurry and beat the caravan back to Konoha. Like you said, Kakashi-sensei, time is not on our side."

Kakashi gave a sharp nod. They were turning to head out when Sakura added softly: "Naruto was being influenced somehow. I know he's impulsive, but… just using the Kyuubi's chakra like that, and so much… and he went straight for the cart…"

"Yeah," Kakashi said grimly. "I noticed that as well. I'm inclined to agree. Did you see what was in the cart?"

"No," Sakura and Itachi said. The Uchiha added: "I noticed something glowing red, though, just before Uzumaki-san collapsed."

"Right," Kakashi muttered. "We'll need to figure out what happened. Let's get going."

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**Amatsubame—**literally, 'rain swallow' I think, but its the Japanese name for a swift, a type of bird.

**senpai—**an older. more experienced member of an organization or company. Part of kohai/senpai social interaction. Senpai are expected to sort of mentor the younger/less experienced kohai.


	7. Homecoming

_TH: I've had a shit-tacular day today. Cheer me up, please?  
_

_

* * *

_

******SHADES

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven— Homecoming**

* * *

**_Five Years Ago_**

_ After joining up with Team Seven and hearing the full story from Kakashi—the story of Danzo's act of treason, what he had attempted and would attempt— Jiraiya had become what few people had seen, and what even fewer had survived seeing. One of the legendary Sannin, in full battle-mode. Gone was his usual lackadaisical manner. There was no mistaking his lethality, his skill, and how dangerous he was._

_ It was this Jiraiya that greeted Tsunade when they finally found her, and her apprentice Shizune, in a border village in Iwa. His grim demeanor was, perhaps, the most influential aspect of their discussion with the Slug Sannin. Tsunade had grown up with the joking, peeping, silly Jiraiya. She had seen this cold, business-like version of him only twice before: when her younger brother had died, and during the battle with Hanzo. So when she was faced with it again, she sat down and listened to what he, and Team Seven, had to say. With Jiraiya's familiarity with her, Team Seven's account of the events in Konoha, and former-Root-member Sai's corroboration, she was easily convinced of the danger to Konoha._

_ That was not to say, however, that she was persuaded to become the Konoha exiles' Godaime Hokage. That took Naruto's own personal brand of persuasion: Obstinacy. He argued loud and long—though mostly loud—with her, finally challenging her to a fight because of her disrespect of the office of Hokage. He lost, but earned a measure of respect from Tsunade by demonstrating his knowledge of the Rasengan, which he had been learning from Kakashi and Jiraiya. He also peppered the fight with a continuation of the arguments he had been making before, shocking Tsunade nearly to inaction with one shouted comment._

_ "I'm going to protect my precious people, and right now, I need your help to do it! I won't let you sit around and do nothing while other people who are counting on you keep suffering!"_

_ The attack he'd been in the middle of during that statement had almost taken Tsunade's head off, but she managed to shake off the paralysis the words had afflicted her with in time to counter. She took Naruto out two moves later, but afterward met the twelve-year-old Uzumaki's blue eyes solemnly and agreed to head the resistance against Danzo's Konoha. And so the seed of Genshi was sown.

* * *

_

**Present**

"I apologize," Sakura said, perhaps a little stiffly, as she ran alongside Itachi through the trees. His masked face tilted toward her slightly. She elaborated: "For fighting you back there. It was foolish of me to think I could help Naruto and Sasuke by just charging in there. I didn't know the situation, but I knew something was wrong. It would have been a stupid mistake to jump in without knowing more. I could have gotten us killed, could have compromised the mission."

Itachi was silent for a moment before responding: "Apology accepted. Will you in turn accept some advice?"  
"Of course," she said, slightly surprised that he'd asked.

"You already know that this is a problem—Tsunade-sama reprimanded your Team for it. You yourself recognize it. So now it is time to work on correcting it. Learn how to better control your emotions. Acting from pure emotion like that is dangerous on missions; you ignored your instincts, which were telling you something was off with the situation. You ignored your intellect, which was saying that a blind charge was not wise." Itachi deliberately caught her eyes with his. "I am glad that my brother is on a Team with comrades who care so much, who will protect and help him. But, like a weapon, those feelings need to be honed and controlled to be useful."

"I understand," Sakura mumbled. Even though she'd said she'd accept his advice, it was still a little embarrassing to be chastised like that by him, like it was being chastised by her _Shishou_. Itachi nodded, and then they both fell silent as, ahead of them, Kakashi gave one quick hand sign. They were approaching Konoha, and had to be careful about being heard by enemies.

_:It seems so wrong,: _Sakura thought, _:to be in the shadow of Konoha's walls and have to worry about enemies.:_

She came to a halt perched on a branch as Kakashi signed a stop. Her hand touched her side lightly, where several scrolls were tucked into the lining of her vest. All accounted for. Kakashi's hand flicked. _Move out. _The three remaining Team Amatsubame members _shunshin_'d apart.

* * *

Sakura slid along the edge of the building, breathing lightly. Her ears were pricked for any sound, and she'd extended her chakra sensing to warn her of any approaching enemies. This was her last delivery, and she'd been lucky so far, in that she hadn't run across any Root or Danzo-loyal ninja. She could only hope her Teammates had been as lucky.

She climbed the wall next to her until she came to a window. It was quick work to finagle the thing open and slip inside. Sakura crouched low under the windowsill, pushing her mask up, and scanned the room she'd just infiltrated. She picked out the shapes of the furniture, and lingered on one shadowed shape.

"Ino!" she hissed. "Ino-pig, wake up!"

The shadowed form of the sleeping Yamanaka jerked, and Ino woke with a hiss and a metallic glint in one hand. Like any self-respecting ninja, Ino slept with at least one weapon close to hand. That was one reason why Sakura hadn't moved any further into the room.

"Chill, Ino-pig, it's just me…" Sakura whispered, keeping still. She heard a sharp intake of breath from the direction of the bed.

"F-forehead?" Sakura rolled forward onto the balls of her feet, alarmed. She had never heard Ino use that tone before. She sounded like… like a kicked orphan puppy.

"Ino? What's wrong?"

"W-what's wrong?" Ino echoed. And then, in a much stronger voice: "What's _wrong_? _Get over here!_"

"Um. Are you going to hurt me if I do?" Sakura asked warily, her alarm slowly draining from her at the appearance Ino's familiar temper.

"Hurt you?" Ino hissed, "I'm going to hug you so hard, I'll leave dents!"

"Oh, well, you can _try_," Sakura said, and went to embrace her friend. They laughed quietly, giddily. Ino sniffled suspiciously as they released each other.

"Forehead, you idiot, do you have any idea how hard it was to just sit around here, not knowing if you guys were still alive?" the Yamanaka demanded.

"Sorry, Ino. You know we couldn't risk communication. Didn't you trust us to come back?"

"Of course I trusted you! It's Danzo I don't trust," Ino muttered. Sakura shook her head, signaling an end to that conversation.

"Ino, can you tell me what it's like in your family? I've been to a few of the other Clans, and…" Sakura trailed off. Some she had liked what she'd seen, others she had been disturbed. Ino fell silent for a long moment before finally replying.

"You've seen it, then." It wasn't exactly a question, but Sakura answered it anyway.

"Yeah," she expelled in a sigh. "Some of them are supporting Danzo. Most of the Nara and the Akimichi aren't, though."

Ino sat up straighter. Her eyes were wide in the dimness of the room. "You've seen Shikamaru and Chouji?"

"Yeah," Sakura replied, eyes narrowing. Danzo had put all of the ninja clans' Head Families under house-arrest. They couldn't see or contact other Clan Heads. Danzo was paranoid. He thought that the restrictions would help prevent any organization of a mutiny in his Village.

He apparently hadn't considered the possibility that they might actually spur the people of Konoha to mutiny. A ruler who rules by fear and threat had a very tenuous hold on his station, indeed.

"Shikamaru and Chouji are fine," Sakura told her friend. "Although they seem to be on their last threads of patience."

Ino lifted her eyebrows. "Are we talking about the same boys? Nara Shikamaru, who never loses his temper on the grounds that it's 'too troublesome'? Akimichi Chouji, the most easy-going person we know?"

"Even they have their limits," Sakura replied, grimly. Ino hissed.

"I guess you're right. Anyway, why are you here, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl pulled out her last scroll. She held it in her hand and met Ino's eyes. "I have a message from Senju Tsunade-sama, the leader of Genshi, for those ninja loyal to the real Konoha. Ino, I need to know—what is the situation in your clan? Is it safe for me to give this to them? To you?"

Ino picked up on the very serious nature of the question, and didn't take offense. She met her friend's eyes solemnly. "The Yamanaka Clan has long supported the vision of Konoha that had been upheld by the first four Hokage. It is to our shame that a few of our number have joined Danzo's Root, but in that joining, they have repudiated the Clan, and have been repudiated by the Clan. Those who are left in the Clan ranks are loyal bearers of the Will of Fire. We will support the rightful Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, as we may."

Sakura bowed to that, and held out the scroll. Ino took it and bowed back, as best she could while sitting in the middle of her bed. Sakura folded her hands and considered her friend. "Ino, do you happen to have any information on what Danzo's up to?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, blinking.

"On the way here, we saw some carts on the road. Do you what Danzo's bringing into the Village?"

Ino shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Sakura. I can't access my usual sources of information while I'm cooped up at home."

"All cut off from your gossip network, Ino-pig?" Sakura teased, even as her heart sank. None of the people she'd delivered messages to had known anything about what the carts had been transporting. Not even Shikamaru; Danzo had been keeping the intelligent Nara Clan in the dark regarding information.

"Yeah, shut up, Forehead," Ino muttered. The pink-haired girl patted her friend's shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Ino," she said. "Somehow."

Then Sakura embraced her friend one more time and stood. She gave Ino a small smile. "Sorry Ino-pig, but I need to get going. Make sure your father destroys that scroll as soon as he's read it."

"Right," Ino said, in a subdued voice. The war had changed them all, Sakura observed. Ino caught Sakura's eyes. "Good luck, Forehead. Be careful."

Sakura gave Ino a sharp grin, showing tooth, before pulling her mask back down over her face. "I've just seen first-hand what Danzo and his little minions have done to my Village and my precious people. It's _them _who should be careful."

Ino's quiet chuckle followed Sakura out into the night.

* * *

Sakura was nearly to the wall when her instincts pricked her and she froze in place, dropping to a crouch in a small patch of shadow. A patrol of Root was passing nearby, on their scheduled round. She felt her lip curl in a sneer. The squads patrolling the forest around Konoha where to protect the Village from possible enemy attacks. _These _patrols, inside the Village itself, were not for protection. Their sole purpose was for policing its people. To make sure everyone is in line, as directed by Danzo.

She jerked in surprise, hearing tiny scuffling noises behind her. Had they detected her? Were they surrounding her right now? She looked around sharply, hands creeping toward her weapons. If she moved, they really would find her. But if they already knew she was there, staying still was dangerous…

Sakura held her breath in tension but released it in quiet amusement as the scuffling proved to have been caused by a scruffy street cat. She wiggled her fingers at the feline, who ran away with a flash of tail. Sakura shook her head at herself, and returned her attention to the now-fading presence of the Root patrol. Her grin widened and she hopped up onto the top of a nearby building before sprinting the length of it and vaulting off, springing over the wall surrounding Konoha.

Originally, neither Sakura nor Naruto would have been delivering Tsunade's messages or making contact with the people in Konoha—they would have been back-up in case something went wrong. It was supposed to be Kakashi, Itachi, and Sasuke who would have done so. Naruto and Sakura would have waited at the predetermined meeting spot, securing the area for when their Teammates finished and came to the rendezvous. Because Naruto and Sasuke had been captured, Sakura had to take Sasuke's part, so there was no one to secure and wait in the meeting spot. So when Sakura arrived to find Itachi already standing in the clearing, she was careful to make sure it actually _was _him and not a _henge_ or _genjutsu_ before she approached.

"Uchiha-san," she said. His Sharingan eyes ran over her face briefly, and his chin dipped.

"Haruno-san." They stood waiting for Kakashi in silence for a moment and then Itachi stirred next to her. She looked at him curiously. He was scanning the trees around them. "Kakashi-senpai is coming."

And sure enough only seconds after he said it, Kakashi dropped down next to them. "Yo."

"Sensei," Sakura said, looking him over for any injuries. He was fine; he looked grim and focused, but that was common to the Copy Ninja ever since the fall of Konoha. His grey eye flicked toward her, then toward Itachi, and Kakashi said:

"Alright. Report."

Itachi nodded to Sakura, so she stepped forward and revealed what she'd found out: "Report on the Nara Clan. I made contact with Shikamaru, Shikaku, and Yoshino of the Head Family. They have been under house arrest for the past four years, unable to send any private messages to any of the other clans. Because they are a smaller clan, however, they have been able to assure me that all of its members are loyal to Lady Tsunade and the true Konoha.

"Report on the Akimichi Clan. I made contact with Chouza and Chouji of the Head Family. They also have been under house arrest. They admitted that some of the Akimichi Clanmembers have joined Root, but that they have repudiated and been repudiated by the rest of the Clan. They have given me the names of those members. The rest of the Akimichi, I have been assured, is loyal to Genshi's cause.

"Report on the Yamanaka Clan. I made contact with Ino of the Head Family. The Yamanaka Head Family has also been under house arrest. Ino has admitted that, like the Akimichi, the Yamanaka have also experienced betrayals of its members. Some have left the Clan to join Root. Ino assures me that the remaining Clanmembers are loyal to Genshi's cause."

Finished, Sakura stepped back, and Kakashi nodded absently, filing away her report in his memory. After a pause, Itachi stepped forward to give his report. He had gone to the remaining major clans of Konoha, the Aburame, Inuzuka, and Hyuuga.

The Aburame were like the Yamanaka in terms of situation—they had a few former Clanmembers in Root, but some of the remaining members opposed Danzo. The Inuzuka, like the Nara, were all pro-Genshi. And the Hyuuga… Sakura's heart sank when she heard of the position of Konoha's second-most influential clan, after the Uchiha.

Many of the Hyuuga supported Danzo; branch-family members because he promised them emancipation from their second-class status, and main-family members because he promised them even more power in Konoha's government. Itachi had approached, wisely, Hyuuga Hinata, knowing her to be a friend of many of the young Genshi members like Sakura and Naruto. She informed him as to which Hyuuga had been compromised and which were quietly biding their time until Genshi could help them. Sakura was glad to know that Hinata and Neji had reconciled their childhood problems and had joined together, albeit secretly, against Danzo. Sadly, however, the rest of Hinata's immediate family—father and sister—were pro-Danzo. Hinata was under house arrest, along with other known 'dissidents' within the clan. Neji had tricked the clan into believing him cooperative, but in reality he snuck Hinata messages to and from her other friends in the village. Getting the pro-Genshi Hyuuga away from control of Danzo and his followers would be difficult, especially those who had the Caged Bird Seal, since shows of disobedience could be punished with pain or even death.

Itachi finished his report and he and Sakura waited as Kakashi gathered his thoughts. Then he reported to them how his part of the mission went—to make sure no part of the record was lost, all members of the Team would memorize each others' reports.

Kakashi's assigned targets had been the mishmash of ninja left over when the major clans had been divvied out. Kamizuki Izumo, Umino Iruka, Shiranui Genma, Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Namiashi Raido, and Hijiri Shimon. He'd made two clones to help him carry out his deliveries.

He received a warm welcome, and a few more names for potential allies.

"And," Kakashi added, grimly, "Ibiki had a guess as to what was in the cart that affected Naruto so acutely."


	8. Dangerous

_TH: Thanks for all the reviews for last chapter- I really appreciate them!_

_Hurrah, we finally find out what was up with Naruto this time! Stay tuned for an author's note at the end. :)  
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**Chapter Eight— Dangerous**

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**_Five Years Ago_**

_ Genshi was not Genshi immediately. Tsunade agreed to lead the exiles from Danzo's Konoha, but first those exiled needed to be gathered and made into a cohesive group. Then that group needed to find a place to stay, to live._

_ Team Seven, Sai, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and her apprentice-and-companion Shizune got lucky. They found _Chi no Mori_, the Forest of Blood, very soon after banding together. After listening to the locals' stories about the forest, and after executing some careful reconnaissance, they determined that the forest was the best place for their base of operations. The rumors of a terrible monster living in the forest, killing and devouring all who ventured under the trees' canopy, would keep the civilian locals out of the way. Locals who, trying to prove their bravery, did go into the forest, were easily fooled using any number of ninja tricks. Ninja who went into the forest, either searching out the cause of the rumors or searching out the Leaf exiles, were generally killed or captured._

_ After several months, Uchiha Itachi, who had been up to this point on a long-term mission away from Konoha, found them. He had heard of what had happened, and had followed Team Seven and Tsunade's trail to _Chi no Mori_. He joined up willingly, and went out into the Elemental Nations to search out more Konoha exiles._

_ He found his family, the Uchiha Clan, headed by his mother, fleeing Konoha. Danzo loathed the once-powerful Clan, largely because of the Uchiha Coup Attempt. The fact that the eight surviving members were all Uchiha who had sided with Konoha and not the Clan during the Attempt did not seem to decrease Danzo's hatred. So when the man took control of Konoha, Uchiha Mikoto knew that her small clan would be in trouble. So she'd gathered them up and left._

_ Some of the Clanmembers had connections to other Villagers. Shisui was one; he was very close to his Team, his three Genin students, and they were very close to him. So when he fled, they followed. Other Uchiha brought their lovers, spouses, children, friends._

_ Other groups of loyal Konoha citizens—most of them ninja, since they were the most endangered by Danzo's rule (the man rarely paid attention to civilians, deeming them completely non-threatening and unimportant)—slowly made their way toward _Chi no Mori_._

_ Eventually, the matter of a name was broached. Genshi was eventually chosen, and it fit. They worked from the shadows, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Some of them were people Danzo even claimed were dead._

_ They were the ghosts of old Konoha._

_

* * *

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**Present**

Sakura and Itachi both leaned in, attention wholly captured by Kakashi's words. The grey-haired shinobi didn't waste time with dramatics, and said bluntly: "Magatama."

"Hn," said Itachi, in a tone of surprise and understanding. Sakura blinked in confusion. The word didn't mean much to her.

"I don't really…" she said slowly, brow furrowed.

"The magatama are sacred stones, created and worn as jewelry by the gods," Itachi said quietly. "Carved, curved stones shaped much like the _tomoe_ of the Sharingan. They've been regarded widely as legend, or rumor if you prefer the term. It seems they are only too real."

"What do they have to do with how Naruto acted?" Sakura asked. "Would I be right in guessing they have some effect on Bijuu or Jinchuuriki?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "The magatama have power over the Bijuu. There are few things that can control a Tailed Beast. We know the Sharingan can, and that Jinchuuriki can. But neither of these is particularly foolproof. The power of the Sharingan can break, the will of the Jinchuuriki fail. The power of the magatama is held in check only by the number of people who are able to use the sacred jewels. It takes a very powerful person to be able to use them. A person has to take the power of the magatama into him or herself, mold it, and release the power to bend the Bijuu to his or her will. But once a person can do that, the ability of the magatama to control the Bijuu is absolute."

"There is a magatama for each Bijuu," Itachi continued when Kakashi paused. "Nine exist in all, and each is specific and exclusive to its Bijuu. And the Beasts are drawn to the stones. We witnessed that when the presence of the Kyuubi magatama caused Uzumaki-san to break cover and leap into the cart."

"What a fantastic coincidence," growled Sakura, "that we happened to chance upon the damn thing with Naruto present."

"Yes, as usual, Team Seven's fantastic luck during missions has held true," Kakashi agreed with very dry humor. Sakura shot him a wry glance before turning back to Itachi and asking:

"If these magatama have been considered just a legend, how has Danzo been getting his hands on them? Where's he finding them?" She paused a moment as a thought occurred to her, "And how many of them does he have? Oh shit; Danzo and Akatsuki have four of the Bijuu already. What if they have the magatama for those Beasts, too?"

Itachi and Kakashi were thoughtfully silent for a long time, occasionally trading comments in hand-signals. They used ANBU hand-signals, though, so Sakura couldn't figure out what they were saying. She didn't begrudge them that, though. She knew they'd been ANBU Teammates before the fall of Konoha, and that to a certain extent they would fall back on mission habits now that they were working together again.

Finally, they looked back at her, and explained.

"There have been some changes in our mission objectives," Kakashi said, in his Team Leader Voice. "We need to ascertain which magatama Danzo has managed to acquire and from where, retrieve Sasuke and Naruto before they can be used in whatever plan Danzo's implementing, and send out a warning message to Lady Tsunade. These are in addition to our original objectives."

"Understood," Itachi and Sakura chorused.

"I will send my _ninken_ summons to deliver the warning to Tsunade," Kakashi continued. "All three of us will remain within the proximity of Konoha, meet with our allies on the inside, and dredge for information. I'm sure I don't need to remind you two not to be seen by any Root or Danzo-supporters."

"Right," Sakura replied, and beside her Itachi nodded. Sakura continued: "Did Ibiki have any more information about the magatama?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Very little. He knew that Danzo was hunting them, and what they do, but he wasn't aware of how many or which Danzo had already."

"Well," Sakura said thoughtfully. She dug into her scroll pouch and pulled out a fresh one, along with a brush and ink. "We know they've got the Kyuubi stone at least."

She wrote down the numbers of the Tailed Beasts, in a column down the scroll, quickly, then looked up at Itachi and Kakashi. "You said there is a magatama for each Bijuu. What differentiates them?"

"According to the legends, the Kyuubi stone is made of red jasper. It is the only one of the nine made of that material," Itachi replied. Sakura scribbled: 'red jasper' on her scroll next to 'Kyuubi'. Then she put a checkmark next to it and looked expectantly up at Itachi. He said: "The Ichibi stone is made of sandstone, Nibi of chalcedony, Sanbi jade, Yonbi grey talc, Gobi coral, Rokubi clear quartz, Shichibi moss agate, and Hachibi obsidian."

As he spoke, Sakura brushed the name of the stone next to the Beast it corresponded with. Finished, she waved the scroll gently in the air to dry the ink, saying: "Right. Could I have you two tell me the legend of these stones? I don't really know anything about them, and it seems it would be to my advantage to find out."

"We will tell you what we know," Kakashi said.

* * *

Before the land that was to be the Elemental Nations existed, there was only an ocean, churning and tossing. The two divine beings Izanami and Izanagi took the sacred _naginata_, Ame-no-nuboko, crested with jewels, dipped it in the ocean, and lifted it. Drops of water fell from the blade, and formed land. Life flourished on the land they created, and the seeds of the Elemental Nations were sown.

Afterward, they decided to marry, and from their union Izanami bore many children. While in the womb, each child drew upon different energies and elements the land generated—fire, water, lightning, earth, and wind. When they were born, the children contained the concentrated power of these energies, and became gods themselves. Izanagi was well pleased with his wife and what they had created together, and presented her with a necklace strung with nine curved stones, each made of a different material. Lain upon her breast, they became sacred and were called magatama. The gift overjoyed Izanami and she drew Izanagi to her.

After some time, it became apparent that Izanami was carrying another child. And as with the previous children, this one also drew upon the energies of the land. But instead of drawing on only a couple of the elements, this child drew on all. Though the child could contain the conflicting energies, Izanami could not bear them. During birth, the awesome and terrible power of the baby tore the goddess's body apart, killing her.

Izanagi went wild with grief and rage, and hacked his newborn son into nine pieces. So great was the child's power that these pieces fell and became alive in their own right, forming the nine Tailed Beasts. The Bijuu were strong, and not even Izanagi could control them with his own power as they raged around him. He threw himself over the body of his wife, trying to protect it from further damage. But his hand tangled in the necklace of magatama around Izanami's throat, and he found that when it was in his hand, he could control the Bijuu. Suppressing their power, he sealed them away.

But the vengeful spirit of Izanami, furious that Izanagi had cleaved her beloved child apart, came to drag her husband into death with her. Before he gave in to the spirit's will and was lost to the realm of death forever, Izanagi threw the magatama to his other divine children.

Over time, the gods gifted the sacred stones unto favored humans in the elemental countries. But humans are transient creatures, and creatures of vice. The magatama were lost, stolen, passed down generations. The passage of the stones from the blessed to the weak, to thieves, to murderers, weakened the seals Izanagi had placed on the Bijuu and eventually the Beasts were released into the world once more. So many years had passed that the story, the truth, of the magatama had faded, sometimes even lost completely. The scattered magatama lay forgotten, and humans turned to weaker methods of control to try to protect themselves from the Bijuu.

* * *

Sakura hugged her knees to her chest, rocking slowly back and forth on her haunches, eyes narrowed and distantly focused. Silently, she mulled over the legend of the magatama and the Bijuu as Itachi and Kakashi quietly discussed what their next step would be.

_'The weaker methods it mentions are probably the different ways of creating Jinchuuriki… But the magatama, made sacred by Izanami's divinity, are the best and most reliable way of controlling the Bijuu.' _She rubbed a hand across her mouth. _'The legend doesn't say where the magatama ended up. I'm sure there are hundreds, or even thousands, of people claiming to own one of Izanami's sacred magatama. If somehow we could check the validity of each of those claims… But checking so many would take forever. How could we narrow the search down? How did Danzo? Or has he been searching for just the Kyuubi stone for years?'_

She frowned. _'And how many stones does he have? The Kyuubi one obviously, but what about the others? He has four other Bijuu, and…'_

Her eyes widened.

"Oh, _shit_!" She shot to her feet. Kakashi and Itachi stopped talking.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi.

"Gaara," Sakura said. "Gaara, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. We have to warn him about the magatama!"

Kakashi blinked, but understood quickly. "Alright, I'll send out another of my summons to see if we can warn him. My _ninken _should be able to track Gaara by scent or chakra."

"Okay," Sakura said, frowning and running her fingers through her hair agitatedly, as Kakashi summoned another of his dogs, outlined the message, and sent the little creature off.

Danzo was so many steps ahead of them. What were they supposed to do? It was like they'd just given the man the world on a platter. Oh, you want the power of the Bijuu, here's the Kyuubi, the most powerful of them. You want the Sharingan? Here it is, have Sasuke!

"_Sakura_," Kakashi's voice cut through the roaring in her ears. "Calm down."

She looked at her sensei, green eyes blazing, and took a couple deep breaths before asking tersely: "What do we do now, Kakashi-sensei?"

He scanned her face, evidently judged her sound enough, and motioned. "Come on, we have an idea about that."

They went to join Itachi, who had cleared away a part of the forest loam to reveal bare dirt, into which he'd scratched a diagram. He took the short stick he'd used to draw it and indicated one of the shapes as Kakashi and Sakura crouched next to him.

"This is the Hokage Monument—" the stick shifted slightly "—and this is the Tower. The hospital is _here_, the Hyuuga populate this district, and this is where the ANBU Headquarters are. The Headquarters are underground, naturally, extending as far as the hospital and the Hokage's Tower. It is comprised of two levels of labyrinthine corridors and rooms. However, there are more levels than that. When ANBU was first organized, and the Headquarters built, there were five levels, though not all were as extensive as the two in use by ANBU today. Before the Third Shinobi War, the bottom three levels were sealed off due to instabilities and cave-ins. However, it seems that Danzo has been using those levels as his base for ANBU Root, unbeknownst to the Hokage or any save himself and his Root agents. From information revealed to Genshi by Sai prior to this mission, there are vaults in the Root levels that contain items Root and Danzo have deemed of interest, as well as high security cells designed to hold war criminals and POWs during the first two Shinobi Wars. It is my analysis and opinion that this is where our Teammates would have been brought after their capture, as well as any magatama Danzo has acquired."

Itachi nodded to Kakashi, who took over: "There are four entrances or exits into the deeper levels. We will utilize the three most accessible. They're located _here, here, _and _here_. We should try to find some witnesses within Konoha who saw anything strange being brought into these areas and not brought out again. Anything suspicious. We should also see if we can recruit some of our allies in the Village to keep watch over these entrances, in case Danzo brings something new into Root HQ. Or if he brings in something that provides proof that either our Teammates or the magatama are actually there."

Kakashi sat back on his heels, eye lifting from the diagram and giving Sakura a solemn look. "Sakura, you will take the first entrance, near the hospital. It is safe enough to assume with the level of activity consistent with the hospital's operations 24/7 that someone there saw something. You are the best suited out of us to infiltrate the hospital."

It was because she'd studied medical jutsu under Tsunade and could easily seem like she belonged in the hospital. Sakura nodded acceptance and understanding. Kakashi turned to Itachi. "I'll take the entrance near the Monument. You take the one between Training Grounds Fourteen and Twenty. We'll do the same—see if anyone witnessed anything strange, set sentries… Alright. We'll have three hours to complete these tasks."

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**magatama— **actual historical item! Stone curved beads first appearing in Japan during the Joumon period. Their shape (a sphere with a flowing tail) is a common visual representation of the human spirit. They were often used as offerings to deities and are sometimes considered an imperial symbol. The Yasakani no Magatama is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

**ninken—**ninja dogs.

**naginata_—_**a type of pole-arm. Also called a glaive, it's something like a spear with a long, curved blade.

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_TH: Hello again! So now you've finished the chapter. Congrats! You might be wondering about the legend I told in the middle of this update. It's partly true and partly my own creation. Izanami and Izanagi ARE gods of Japanese mythology, and the story goes that they did form land out of drops off a blade. They did have many children, who became gods themselves, and Izanami did bear a child that killed her. However, different from my version, this child was actually the god of fire, and it burned her to death. Izanagi did dice up the kid (great dad) but that's where my legend completely deviates from the actual myth. Google the story if you're interested in hearing what really happened!_


	9. Informative

_TH: I predict that after the next chapter, you will all hate me._

_But before that happens, please! Let me feel the love: Review!  
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**Chapter Nine— Informative**

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**_Seven Years Ago_**

_'Sai' was an arbitrary designation, assigned to him at the time of his induction into Root. It allowed his trainers to call him out, his superiors to issue specific orders. Other than that, it had no meaning. He didn't know what his parents had named him, if they ever did. The boy called Sai was an orphan. Many in Root were, since it kept exposure of the group low. People with families might get asked questions, and questions endangered the existence of Root._

_ Sai tried to follow the precepts of Root— 'You have no name, you have no feelings, you have no past, you have no future. All that exists is the mission.' —and for the most part, succeeded. But he couldn't give up drawing. So instead, he hid it._

_ It was only a matter of time before he was found out, but fortunately for him, it was 'Shin' who discovered it. Instead of turning Sai in, Shin _encouraged _Sai's art. He encouraged Sai, and became something resembling a brother to the younger Root operative._

_ But then came the mission._

_ Shin didn't have to die on that mission. He shouldn't have. But Danzo didn't care about his little toy soldiers. They were not, after all, people. Not to Danzo._

_ Sai realized then that, this whole time, he had been very wrong. He had not succeeded as well as he had thought in following Root's rules. He hadn't known how much Shin had meant to him, how much he'd _felt_ for his brother, until Shin was gone._

_ It circled around his mind, like a trapped animal. Shin didn't have to die. Shin died because Root let him die. Danzo let him die._

_ It soon became 'I _hate _Danzo', as Sai opened his eyes and noticed how foul the man and the man's ideals were. And so, when finally the opportunity to break free of Root, and to have his betrayal _mean _something, _accomplish _something, Sai seized it without hesitation._

_ Two years after Shin's death, Sai turned against his fellow Root agents, and fought alongside true, loyal Leaf-nin. Team Seven. They became the first people besides Shin to acknowledge him.

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**Present**

Naruto and Sasuke were being held in Root's subterranean facilities; that much became clear after gathering information and comparing notes with Kakashi and Itachi. The magatama were another matter entirely; it was much easier to smuggle stones into the headquarters than prisoners. There were reports of crates being brought into the three entrances, but those could be filled with anything from weapons to food.

But they had trustworthy intel that led them to believe that their missing Teammates were definitely being held in Root's headquarters. The only question was what to do with that knowledge. The most obvious response would be to 'bust them out,' but how exactly were they supposed to go about doing that? They didn't really have much going in their favor.

But they also didn't have much of a choice. If they waited around too long, Danzo would extract the Kyuubi, or use the magatama to set Naruto against his enemies, or kill Sasuke, or take Sasuke's eyes. There were too many dangerous outcomes for not doing anything that they really _had _to do _something_.

"We don't have the power to stage a break-out, with just three people," Kakashi stated bluntly, arms crossed as he leaned back on a tree.

"What about getting our allies _within_ Konoha to help?" Sakura asked. Itachi shook his head.

"No, stirring up the Villagers while Danzo has Naruto under the thrall of the magatama will only get a lot of people killed."

"Then what about a shadow operation?" If they couldn't go in directly, maybe they could sneak.

"There is a possibility of that, but the likelihood of it actually succeeding is very low. Because the caravan caught Naruto and Sasuke so close to Konoha, Danzo's on alert. He knows there are most likely more of us, so he will increase security. Especially around his prisoners and the magatama."

"Then what _can _we do?" Sakura demanded, wanting briefly to punch Itachi. The desire was punted firmly out of her head as Kakashi twitched and hissed:

"_Shhh!_"

They all fell silent, and crouched slightly, muscles coiling in preparation for action. Kakashi gestured in the direction he thought he'd heard something. Sakura strained her ears, but heard nothing, so she started watching her Teammates. Perhaps they could hear better than she. Itachi was a moderately powerful chakra-sensor, too. And sure enough, after a moment, the Uchiha tapped Kakashi's shoulder, glanced at Sakura to find her already paying attention, and then signaled: _Three. Root patrol?_

Kakashi lifted his face, and Sakura got the impression that he was sniffing the air. Then he cocked his head and listened a moment more before responding: _Confirmed. Patrol. Three. Execute evasion._

They couldn't kill the patrol. That would be as good as admitting that they were there; Danzo would realize very quickly that something was wrong if one of his patrols suddenly vanished in the middle of their shift. They also couldn't let the patrol see them, or any evidence of their presence. So they were going to rely on _genjutsu_.

It wasn't much of a gamble. A _genjutsu _crafted by Uchiha Itachi, master of the Sharingan, and backed both him and Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja, was about as ironclad as you could get. If Danzo had someone who could see through such an illusion, Sakura would be extraordinarily surprised.

The three Team Amatsubame members shifted so they were back-to-back in a small, tight triangle. Itachi would execute this _genjutsu _in layers. The strongest layer would have to be around them, and minimizing the space that layer would have to cover would minimize the amount of chakra necessary to keep it up, allowing Itachi to strengthen the other layers, which erased the evidence of footprints around the clearing and such.

The Root patrol should see nothing more than yet another little forest glade.

Itachi made the signal for _no movement_, indicating that the _genjutsu _was in place. Until they were sure the danger had passed and they dropped the illusion, they wouldn't move beyond what was absolutely necessary, in order to decrease the chances of disrupting the _genjutsu_.

The Root patrol passed nearby, overhead in the trees. They were close enough that Sakura could see the hand-signals they flashed back and forth to each other, but she couldn't decipher them. It seemed Root had its own signal 'language', different from both the normal one Sakura knew and the ANBU one she'd seen Kakashi and Itachi use. Root's seemed more… violent, somehow. More slashing motions and hard lines. It looked as if their signals had been patterned after martial arts movements and hand 'postures'.

After the patrol had passed, they stayed hidden and still for a few beats longer, and then Itachi released his _genjutsu_. They broke formation. Sakura glanced at her compatriots. "Did anyone understand the signals they were giving?"

Itachi and Kakashi shook their heads. The former added: "We haven't been able to decipher it. Not even Sai could help us, because Root uses a rotating signal language. He was able to tell us that the rotations occur every two weeks, but that means that the signs they use are never the same. By the time we could learn one rotation's signals, they would change."

"Danzo really is an incredibly paranoid person," Sakura muttered. The corner of Itachi's mouth quirked. The expression was less full of humor and more dark.

"You reap what you sow," he said, "and Danzo has been free with his pain and hate."

* * *

They slept that night with a watch division of three shifts, with two people on each. First watch was Kakashi and Itachi, second was Kakashi and Sakura, and third was Sakura and Itachi. While this set-up meant they all got less sleep than if there had only been one person on watch at a time, it also meant that their security was increased. A watch that relied on only one person's senses was less effective than one that relied on two people.

Being so close to Konoha, with Danzo and Root on alert for them, and having lost about half their Team already, they were not willing to take such risks. So they would have to make do with less sleep. It shouldn't be that difficult; they had training to deal with it, and soldier pills if they really got desperate.

Sakura got to sleep first, so she spread out her bedroll and squirmed into it. They had no fire—it would only give them away and ruin their night-vision. Kakashi and Itachi bracketed her, about ten meters to either side, facing opposite directions. Sakura's last sight as she closed her eyes was of Kakashi's hair, a dim grey in the darkness, shifting as he scanned the forest.

"Haruno-san. Haruno-san, you have to wake up. Now."

It seemed like only minutes later that Sakura became aware of a voice hissing quietly in her ear. She came awake like a true ninja—immediately, and completely. She ignored her lingering fatigue, and her eyes automatically swept around the tiny clearing in which they'd made their camp.

Itachi was crouched next to her, having been the one to wake her. But his attention was focused elsewhere. Kakashi wasn't far, and all of his attention was devoted to their surroundings. They were both wearing their masks. Sakura was out of her bedroll and crouched, ready, in a heartbeat. Her mask, hastily pulled on, was cold on her skin.

"What happened?" she asked very quietly. Her hand hovered over her weapons holster, kept strapped to her thigh even as she slept.

"We have incoming," Itachi responded.

"Another patrol?" Sakura wondered. Itachi was silent a moment before responding.

"We aren't sure." As Sakura frowned, he added, "Neither myself nor Kakashi-senpai could identify them by their chakra signatures. They've been cloaking them, and they are very skilled. We nearly did not sense them."

Sakura's eyebrows, hidden by her mask, went up in surprise. Someone who could almost completely hide their chakra from Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi would be skilled indeed.

"They're heading straight for us," Itachi observed, just loud enough for Kakashi to hear. "Will we stand, or evade?"

"Wait," Kakashi said, and Sakura could hear in his voice that his brow was furrowed in concentration and thought. "I can sense… One of my _ninken _is with them."

One of his _ninken_? He'd sent out two, one to Tsunade and one to Gaara. That the dog was with this group of people implied the dog was leading them, or at least traveling with them. Which meant that they were not enemies. But neither Kakashi nor Itachi knew them, at least, not by their chakra signatures.

Sakura had a suspicion of who it might be. But they wouldn't possibly be so foolish…

Kakashi's dog bounded into the clearing, and up to his contractor, tongue lolling. "I found them, Kakashi! They asked to follow me to you, because they had something important to say to you."

The little beige _ninken _had barely managed to finished when the three ninja who had been following him entered the clearing themselves. And Sakura's suspicions were proven right.

"Sabaku no Gaara," Kakashi said, sounding particularly laconic. A clear sign he was wary. "I see you have received our warning."

At his feet, his _ninken _grinned, and disappeared in a small poof of vapor. Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou stood at ease in front of them, Gaara in the middle, flanked by his siblings.

"Yes," Gaara replied, simply, easily. Sakura jerked forward.

"Then why are you here?" she demanded. "If you got the warning, then you know that Danzo might be able to—"

"That is not a concern," Gaara interrupted.

"Explain," Itachi said, almost immediately. Sakura thought she could hear a thoughtful curiosity in his tone. Temari was the one who took it upon herself to explain.

"We ran into a group of Danzo's ninja near a shrine in Kusa, a couple weeks ago. They had with them the Ichibi magatama." She paused as Sakura hissed. She gave Team Amatsubame a small smirk. "They were not expecting to encounter resistance, let alone us. There were only three of them. Although Gaara was affected by the presence of the magatama, Kankurou and I were able to dispose of them. We had the element of surprise on our side; they didn't have a chance to use the stone against us."

"What happened to the magatama?" Itachi asked, as she took a breath.

"We destroyed it," Kankurou replied. Sakura started, surprised.

"So it is possible to destroy them," Itachi murmured thoughtfully, as if he had suspected this answer.

"I'm not saying it was easy," Kankurou warned. "It took some effort, but it was possible. The threat from the Ichibi magatama doesn't exist anymore."

"After finding the magatama and destroying it," Gaara broke in before they could divert any further, "we went to _Chi no Mori. _However, once we arrived, we discovered that you had left."

He paused. "We followed after to pass on the same warning that you have just sent us. But it seems we are too late."

Sakura winced. "Naruto and Sasuke were taken by Danzo. They have the Kyuubi magatama."

None of the Sand siblings had anything to say to that. From Amatsubame's warning, the absence of Naruto and Sasuke, and the grim moods of the others, Gaara and his brother and sister had probably already deduced what had happened.

"We will assist you in freeing your Teammates, then," Gaara said.

Sakura blinked.

Itachi went: "Hn."

And Kakashi said: "Although the Ichibi magatama is gone, Danzo will still want the Bijuu. He'll try to capture you, so they can extract the Ichibi and use it for themselves."

Sakura saw… something… flicker across Gaara's face, but it was gone before she could identify it. He replied: "That may be true, but they would have to capture me alive to extract it."

"Gaara," Temari said, frowning. He glanced at her, and her brow furrowed more, but she didn't protest further.

"As well," Gaara continued. "Even if they identify us, it will not cast suspicion on Genshi. By now, Danzo will know the team he sent out to retrieve the Ichibi magatama is missing. It will not seem out of place if we appear and begin attacking Konoha."

"Even if he considers the possibility that you have allied with us, there is no evidence to support it. He'll keep with the more logical answer and believe you're attacking in retaliation," Itachi mused aloud. Gaara's chin dipped slightly. Itachi's mask tilted toward Kakashi, and they shared a brief glance. Then Itachi gestured a little and said: "We would be glad of your assistance."

"Great," Kankurou said. "So do we have a plan?"

* * *

As Itachi redrew the map of Konoha in the bare dirt, Kakashi asked the Sand siblings a few pointed questions, beginning with: "Can you sense the other magatama?"

"No," Gaara replied. He frowned and said, slowly: "The stones call to the Bijuu only. They don't affect the host. Not directly."

"We actually think that the stone was the reason we crossed paths with the Root team that was carrying it. Otherwise it's just too great of a coincidence," Temari put in. "We never follow a pattern in our movements. Patterns make it easier for enemies to find you, to ambush you. So we tend to simply wander. That we just happened to wander in the direction of the Ichibi magatama at just the right time to encounter the Root team is something that is suspiciously improbable."

"It is likely that the magatama called to the Ichibi, which in turn influenced my subconscious mind, causing me to lead us to the stone," Gaara stated. "It wasn't until afterward, when we could examine the situation objectively, that I realized that I had unconsciously led us straight to the magatama."

"You thought you had chosen to travel that direction arbitrarily?" Kakashi asked to clarify. Gaara nodded.

"At the time, I had not been aware that the magatama existed. I realized, briefly, that something was pulling at the Ichibi, right before Shukaku rose to dominance and fell completely under the thrall of the stone."

"Rose to dominance?" Sakura asked. Kankurou looked at her.

"Your Teammate is a Jinchuuriki. You probably already know what that means."

Sakura thought of the times she'd seen Naruto's eyes go red and slit-pupiled, and when his features had grown ragged and feral. She nodded grimly. "When the Kyuubi rises to dominance, Naruto becomes violent and can't really distinguish between enemy and ally."

"It is the same with Shukaku," Gaara replied. "But the Bijuu is not free to pursue its own desires when it is called by its magatama. The stones demand all attention; they consume the Beasts' minds."

"Were you aware of what was happening when the Ichibi was in control?" Kakashi rejoined the conversation.

"No," Gaara said. "I was aware of the Ichibi taking control, and then the next time I was cognizant was after Temari and Kankurou had destroyed the magatama."

"Hm," Kakashi said, and Sakura knew he was thinking about Naruto.

"Our first concern, then, should be to capture or destroy the Kyuubi magatama. It won't help if we rescue Uzumaki-san and leave Danzo with the means to control him," Itachi said. He'd finished sketching out his map.

"Agreed," Kakashi said.


	10. Shatters

_TH: Author's note at end. Also, Gaara being a BAMF, cuz that's just what he does.  
_

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******SHADES

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**Chapter Ten— Shatters**

* * *

**_Five Years Ago_**

_ Danzo's take-over was not outwardly violent. He sent out his assassins to eliminate the opposition, Tsunade, yes, but he did not fight for Konoha. After announcing Tsunade's 'refusal' to become Hokage, he took the seat for himself with little outcry. Those who might have protested were silenced by the presence of Root, which came out of the shadows once their leader was in power. The threat of Root, Danzo's personal army, kept silent many who would have otherwise opposed the new Godaime Hokage._

_ But not everything went according to Danzo's plan._

_ The Uchiha Clan, and the Sarutobi, and a fair number of lesser-named ninja disappeared on the eve of his inauguration. Before he could take steps to neutralize the threat they posed to his rule. This displeased him, and forced his hand in Konoha. He passed an edict that prevented the other major ninja Clans from meeting and gathering, which made any attempt they might make at organizing against him more difficult. He also approached those clans that he believed would support him. With liberal use of promises and pledges, Danzo acquired many allies, including the prestigious Hyuuga Clan. There were dissidents in both the Branch and Main families—that young heiress, for example—but they were kept firmly in line by their fellow Clanmembers, and by Danzo's Root._

_ Danzo valued power, especially power that he could control. So he tried as hard as he could to keep Konoha's great bloodlines intact and in the Village. So, even though some Clans like the Nara and the Akimichi would not (down to a man) support him, Danzo kept them alive and constrained within Konoha. He might have use for their Clans' unique talents later. _

_ It was a terrible thing to squander a kekkei genkai, after all._

_

* * *

_

**Present**

The wall that encircled Konoha was a twenty-foot tall, five-foot thick monstrosity made out of rock. Born of a powerful earth jutsu, it was completely solid, instead of being build by brick and mortar, which made it a substantially more effective defense. Pit the wall against a fire jutsu, and you'd get a few char marks, but otherwise the wall would win. A wind jutsu might scrape some dust off the great edifice, and a water jutsu would leave it a bit damp. Lightning didn't much differ from fire. An earth jutsu of comparable strength to the one that had created the wall could, if powerful enough, crumble it.

Gaara blasted a hole in it approximately fifty feet wide, causing pulverized stone to billow into the air in a massive cloud and some larger pieces of wall to rumble down into haphazard piles at the base. The noise of it crashed through the air like thunder; birds exploded from the surrounding forest in startled flight, and ninja flashed quickly into action to identify and neutralize the threat.

It being broad daylight, there was no mistaking the sudden swirl of the blast cloud forming itself into a whipping tentacle. Pulverized stone was, after all, sand. Gaara seized control of the drifting particles and assimilated them into the sandmass from the gourd on his back, easily quadrupling the amount of his unique 'weapon'.

The first ten Root ninja who arrived at the scene of the wall breach were summarily snatched up and cocooned by the sand. A gesture from Gaara had the cocoons sharply compacting, crushing their contents. Blood dripped through the sand particles, forming astonishingly deep puddles on the ground. The mangled remnants—not even definable as bodies anymore—were dropped casually to the ground as well. Gaara advanced through the gap in the wall, his sand swirling around him eagerly. Stretching Gaara's features was a slightly-wild expression of matching eagerness.

Safely ensconced in the treeline, hidden but still able to see the proceedings, Sakura watched with her jaw somewhere near her knees. She mouthed silently a moment before managing: "Merciful Kannon save us all!"

She turned wide eyes on Temari, who was waiting nearby for her signal to join her brother, and said: "I thought you said he wasn't bloodthirsty!"

Temari stared flatly at her. "No, _he_ said he wasn't _insane_. He never said anything about being bloodthirsty."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue before she realized that she _couldn't_ remember Gaara ever denying such accusations. Her mouth shut with a click. Temari took pity on her and explained: "Gaara is a Jinchuuriki, one with a weaker seal than your blond friend's. Shukaku, the Ichibi, influences Gaara more than the Kyuubi influences Naruto. Gaara has to kill, sometimes, has to slake the Ichibi's desire for blood and death. If he doesn't, Shukaku makes the bloodlust worse. Gaara tried, once, to refuse to kill. A few weeks later, he lost control and the Ichibi killed dozens, more than if Gaara had just appeased Shukaku."

"He's killing dozens now," Sakura murmured. Temari shrugged.

"Better them than us," she said, "than you. Gaara still has control. He knows not to kill civilians. He's only targeting Root members."

"I know," Sakura said, but she still flinched when Gaara's sand snatched up two more Root and whipped them viciously toward a nearby building. They left bright red streaks as they contacted the building's wall and slid bonelessly down.

"He might be going at it with a touch more enthusiasm than usual," Temari noted thoughtfully. "Root must have really pissed him off."

"Uhng," Sakura agreed weakly. Temari turned and caught Sakura's eyes seriously.

"The matter with the magatama isn't the only thing that bothered Gaara," she said. "Most of his anger right now is that Root and Danzo have mistreated Uzumaki, your Teammate. What the kid said when we first met you guys really affected Gaara."

Sakura blinked, trying to think back. Temari didn't wait for her. "People don't claim association with Gaara. Kankurou and I are the only ones who have. Even our father never called Gaara by his name, or called him son. He always just said 'the Jinchuuriki.' But Uzumaki told Gaara that they were brothers by circumstance."

She fell silent, to let that soak in. Sakura shifted to face her, and gave a small sort of smile. "Temari, I know. Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, and is my Teammate and essentially _my_ brother. I know that Gaara is Gaara and the Ichibi is separate. I know that the… the joy on his face is an echo from the Beast, and not his own feeling. I'm glad he, and you and Kankurou, decided to help us. We hadn't known we'd impressed you so much that first meeting. Actually, we thought we flubbed it."

"It was inept," Temari noted dryly, but with relief. "But I think that helped persuade us you were honest."

She paused, and moved slightly away. Gaara had moved out of view, inside the Village, but a plume of sand and debris marked where he still battled against Root agents. More debris joined it as something exploded with a muted rumble. "That's my cue."

"Good luck," Sakura said. Temari bared her teeth in a grin.

"Thanks. Really." She flashed away and a moment later, Sakura saw a funnel of wind rise up from some inner part of the Village, not far from where the sand plume stretched toward the sky.

Sakura took a breath and held it a moment before letting it out. Her cue would be coming up soon. The Sand siblings would start the assault, draw attention (and, boy, were they succeeding), and open a small window of opportunity for Team Amatsubame to retrieve their captured members. Hopefully, Root would be too involved trying to stop the battering ram that was Gaara and his siblings to notice Sakura, Kakashi, and Itachi's stealthy infiltration of their Headquarters.

It was a long shot, but it was the best chance they had.

As Sakura waited, she thought about what Temari had said. It was true that she knew the difference between a Jinchuuriki and a Bijuu. She had seen Naruto almost lose himself—and truly lose himself—to the Kyuubi. She knew that Gaara was the one in charge right now, but that the emotions and reactions of the Ichibi to the battle were filtering through into its host. But that didn't mean the eager, exultant expression on the redhead's face didn't make her uneasy. It was one thing to know something intellectually, and a completely different thing to _feel _it.

"We'll mobilize soon."

Sakura turned to see that Itachi had joined her. He'd been scouting the perimeter and watching the events in the Village, making sure that things were progressing in a manner that would benefit Team Amatsubame, and had now returned to join up with his partner—Sakura. She wondered briefly if it bothered him that he was stuck with her. Kakashi had, of course, joined up with his nin-dogs again, and they hadn't thought it a good idea to leave Sakura on her own for this particular fight. This had then necessitated that she partner with Itachi in their mission to infiltrate Root HQ.

They didn't stay in a full 3-man team because of two reasons. First, a group of three was harder to sneak into places than smaller groups. Second, splitting up as they had would give them two chances to find and rescue Sasuke and Naruto. If one group got caught, the other still had a chance. They didn't _like _splitting up, but strategically, it was the more sound option.

"I'm ready," Sakura replied to Itachi's statement presently. "Are you going to put the _henge _on me now?"

Itachi nodded—they'd all agreed to have subtle _henge _placed on them so they wouldn't have to run through Konoha with their incriminating Genshi uniforms or their equally (or even more) incriminating own faces. With some very skillfully applied _henge _(cast by two highly-skilled Sharingan-users), they shouldn't have any trouble with people seeing through their illusions. They should appear to be three normal, if forgettable, Konoha Chuunin.

Itachi cast the _henge _over Sakura first, and then himself. Kakashi, who was somewhere off at his own location, was probably casting his own at the same time.

After that, they didn't have to wait long before the ground shook and a low rumble rolled through the air as three consecutive explosions within the Village sent a wall of dust stretching heavenward.

Sakura felt a kick of adrenaline speed her heart immediately, and she rocked forward onto her toes eagerly, waiting for Itachi—the leader of their little two-person cell—to give to go-ahead. A small smirk passed across his face at her intent look, and then his head lowered as he gathered and tensed, and then leapt forward in motion.

Then, they were flying. Through the trees, over the shattered wall, into Konoha and over its roofs. The _henge _were obviously effective, because the ninja they encountered didn't look askance at them, and let them run on. Presumably, hopefully, Kakashi was having as easy a time.

It didn't take long for Itachi and Sakura to reach their assigned entrance, between Training Grounds Fourteen and Twenty.

* * *

It was much like the entrance Sakura had seen by the hospital—two doors in the ground, like the doors to a cellar. Except these were buried in shrubbery and hidden in shadows.

And one did not normally post guards on cellar doors.

The diversion provided by Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou had worked, to an extent. Where normally there would have been two Root elites on guard, there was only one. Either Root was complacent and thought that enough, or they had been sufficiently frightened by the Sand siblings' attacks to reassign priorities. In any case, Sakura barely had time to blink before the unfortunate fellow was dead on the ground, his neck bent unnaturally where Itachi had snapped it. Death had been instantaneous.

Despite knowing Itachi was capable of it, despite having seen examples of his prowess before, and despite the fact that the man had been their enemy and had needed to die, Sakura felt a small chill creep up her spine. She hadn't even seen Itachi move. And neither had the Root guard, to judge from the rather bored expression on his dead face.

_:Not important!: _she thought to herself fiercely. _:Focus!:_

Itachi opened one of the doors and held it for her. She palmed a kunai and jumped down silently, on alert for any sign of more Root inside. Itachi alighted on the floor next to her, and, above them, the door shut softly.

They were standing in a narrow corridor, lit to a comfortable, though not bright, level with small electrical brackets along the walls. The floor was stone, as were the walls and ceiling. In terms of aesthetics, it was lacking. But that was only to be expected of the base of a militaristic group like Root.

Itachi tapped her shoulder and made a few gestures. She was to follow—he had a fix on his brother's chakra signature. He couldn't sense Naruto.

Sakura frowned slightly, but nodded and followed when Itachi moved away. They had probably masked Naruto's—and the Kyuubi's—chakra signature. Remembering the powerful waves of Kyuubi chakra that had been rolling off Naruto when he'd encountered the magatama, she thought that, had Root left it unmasked, it would have been tantamount to running about the Village shouting "Here! We have the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki here!" They might have very well masked Sasuke's chakra signature as well, but Itachi was _Itachi_, and Sasuke's protective older brother. He probably was so attuned to Sasuke's chakra signature that he could find him anywhere, any time, no matter what.

They sprinted, light-footed, through the corridors, Sakura following Itachi, Itachi following the sense of his brother. They encountered Root agents twice—two agents the first time, and one the second. It didn't sound like much, but it was enough.

Before Danzo came to power, he had had to rely on what he would call 'unconventional' means (what other people called 'illegal, immoral, and underhanded' means) to get recruits. Which basically meant he stole and brainwashed orphans—those who would not be missed, and who could be molded. But after Danzo became Hokage, and had not had to hide his actions, he started recruiting from the general ninja populous. The result was a Root that was actually composed to two groups: Danzo's elite, the core Root, and those who had not had enough skill to make the elites, or had not responded well enough to Danzo's brainwashing tactics.

Only the elites were allowed to use the HQ. A small group, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in skill and unquestioning loyalty and obedience. Danzo said jump, and they didn't even ask how high—they just _jumped._ These were the agents Sakura and Itachi encountered.

They managed to wound both Sakura and Itachi (though the latter was more of a feat, in the former's opinion), but did _not _manage to raise an alarm before they were each killed. Sakura was able to heal the more troublesome wounds she and the Uchiha had acquired in the scuffles, but couldn't do anything about the bloodstains they left, so the two Genshi ran on, with crimson drying to rust-brown on their clothes.

At last, Itachi halted. His eyes were fixed on a door beside them.

"Sasuke."

His voice was quiet, but Sakura heard a shuffle from the other side of the door, filtering through the tiny metal grate set about eye-level in the door. "Nii-san?"

"Yes. Where is Uzumaki-san?"

Behind the door, Sasuke coughed a little before responded. His voice sounded like he hadn't had water in a while. "I think he's in the cell next to me. Or at least, he was close enough I could hear him."

"He was talking?" Sakura asked.

"No," Sasuke didn't seem surprised that she was there, as well. "And he wouldn't respond when I called him. But he was making sounds."

Itachi was crouched by the door, fiddling with the lock. He asked, absently: "What kind of sounds?"

"Growls. Barks. Fox-sounds." Sasuke's voice was flat, expressionless. But Sakura could read well enough into it that she knew Sasuke was concerned over the words.

"It's the stone. The magatama. It calls the Bijuu to the surface, but controls it," she told Sasuke. The younger Uchiha was silent a moment. Then:

"Hn."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke had such a way with words.

There was a metallic clunk, and then the door swung open. Itachi stood aside as Sasuke stepped slowly out. Sakura bit back a gasp. Root clearly hadn't been taking very good care of their prisoners. Sasuke was thinner than usual, and paler, with shadows under his eyes and a particular wan-look that told Sakura he was low on energy and chakra. There were several small wounds that had scabbed over littering his visible skin. Sakura stepped forward, but Sasuke shook his head.

"I don't need any healing, Sakura. Save your energy."

Sakura scanned him one more time, checking on the validity of the statement, and decided that he was right. None of his wounds seemed serious enough to warrant her skills. Sasuke did, however, accept the soldier pill his brother wordlessly held out, and downed it.

Itachi moved to the next door over, and glanced through the grate. "He is here. And the magatama. Luck is with us."

"You can see him? Does he look alright?" Sakura demanded, stepping closer to the door and trying to peer inside over Itachi's head as he worked the lock. This one he teased open faster, having gotten the trick down with Sasuke's door. Sakura lunged through the door first.

Naruto was lying on the floor, heedless of the cold, hard rock. His body was curled around the magatama, the stone glowing softly red. As Sakura got closer, she realized he was crooning quietly, almost inaudible, to it, deep in his throat. She swallowed against a suddenly dry mouth.

"Naruto," she whispered.

"We will have to force him to move somehow," Itachi observed from behind her. He stepped around to crouch by Naruto's head. "Here."

He plucked the magatama from the curve of Naruto's body, and gave it to Sakura. She blinked. Naruto stopped crooning, and sat up, his eyes opening and following the stone intently. She gulped again.

"Come. He will follow," Itachi said, and left the room. Sakura took a step back, and Naruto swayed toward her. She took another, and then another. Naruto came to his feet and stepped forward.

Sasuke touched Sakura's elbow, and then they both turned and went after Itachi. Naruto—piloted by the Kyuubi's mindless desire to stay near the magatama—followed.

* * *

Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou did not spent very long harassing Konoha's defenses. Their job was to provide a distraction only until it seemed too dangerous for them to keep attacking. They had made a tactical retreat soon after Sakura and Itachi had entered Root HQ, but they would be waiting at a predetermined rendezvous point for their newly-acquired Genshi allies. If the aforementioned allies could get out of the Village alive and intact.

Itachi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were making pretty good time. They'd made it out of Konoha proper, and were in the forest immediately surrounding the Village when things started falling apart.

Sasuke was doing well, having taken that soldier pill before. Sakura and Itachi were fine as well. Naruto was following the magatama soundlessly, his eyes still fixed on the red jasper stone.

Then Itachi stopped moving, so suddenly that he rocked slightly on the tree limb where he crouched. His head snapped around to stare into the forest at their right. "Senpai."

Sakura felt icy fear squeeze her heart. _:Kakashi-sensei?:_

"Get them to the rendezvous," Itachi ordered sharply. And then he vanished from his perch. He must have used _shunshin_, because they'd seen no hint of movement before he simply disappeared.

Heart now thundering painfully in her chest, Sakura turned to Sasuke and shoved the magatama into his hands. "Gaara and his siblings are waiting up ahead a few kilometers. Bring this and Naruto to them!"

"Sakura—" he started, but she _shunshin_'d after Itachi, following his very faintly detectable chakra signature. Sasuke and Naruto were very quickly left behind as Sakura chased after Itachi. The older Uchiha's tone when he'd spoken had been telling. Kakashi was in danger. Great danger, if Itachi had decided to rush to his aid like he had.

Sakura wouldn't let him go alone, and wouldn't let herself _not _be there, if Kakashi ended up needing emergency medical care.

She wasn't fast enough to catch up to Itachi, so she didn't see what happened before. All she saw when she burst into the small clearing was Itachi catching a limp, falling body from the air. The body had a shock of silver-grey hair.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura rushed forward. Itachi didn't even look at her, not even to punish her for disobeying his order. He gently set Kakashi down on the ground, as the older shinobi's eyes winced shut in pain.

It suddenly became difficult for Sakura to breathe, because Kakashi's chest was covered in more blood than she had ever remembered seeing on him, and his flak jacket was so shredded that it hung from him in ribbons. She forced in and out a couple breaths that whistled through her tight throat. And then she pitched herself to his side, hands glowing green.

But she already knew…

"Itachi—" Kakashi gurgled, coughed, and shifted weakly. "They're following me. Danzo. Danzo has—" He broke off, taking a ragged breath, as Sakura did her best to re-knit the skin of his belly. His intestines gleamed wet and slick and red with blood, clearly visible through the horrible tears in his body. Through gritted teeth, Kakashi managed: "Danzo… has… the Sharingan."

"Was it him? Was he the one you fought?" Itachi demanded.

Kakashi seized Itachi's arm, his fingers smearing blood onto the Uchiha's sleeve. "_He knows_."

By the way Itachi froze, the words meant something significant, but what exactly that something was beside the implied affirmative answer to Itachi's earlier question, Sakura didn't know. "How much?"

Kakashi turned his head and half-coughed, half-vomited blood. It oozed through the cloth mask that, as always, covered him nose-to-chin. Sakura swore and moved her hands from keeping his intestines in place, to putting his blood back into his veins and out of his lungs. He rasped, "All of it."

His body shuddered under Sakura's feverish treatments. She didn't realize she was crying until the drops began to fall and mix with the blood on her hands. Kakashi's head rolled so he could meet her eyes with his grey one. "Sakura…"

"Don't!" she said, an order, a plea. She knew what he was going to say.

"You can't save me." He said it anyway. Sakura sobbed and shook her head forcefully. "You can't. I'm sorry."

"Sensei, Sensei, Sensei," she said, tears falling faster now. She couldn't believe this was happening. She wouldn't let it happen!

His hand trembled, like he wanted to touch her, but he didn't have the strength.

Sakura knew… he was right. The glow faded from her hands.

"Sakura, while I'm still alive, you have to take my eye—" a sob rocked her body "—yes, you have to take my eye, and give it to Itachi."

"Senpai…" Itachi stirred. He gripped Kakashi's shoulder.

"No. You have to take it." Blood dripped from Kakashi's mouth, running across his cheeks and across his neck and into the hair at his nape. He took a breath that gurgled wetly. "I know what it means. Just how bad is your sight right now? And the war isn't even over. You'll need it."

Sakura lifted her eyes to Itachi, who was staring at Kakashi with his jaw clenched so tight Sakura could see the muscles in his neck straining.

"The Eternal Mangekyo," she whispered, having heard of it before. Itachi's eyes, Sharingan active and bright, flickered up to her face for a split second before returning to Kakashi. The Copy Ninja didn't speak, but met and held Itachi's gaze. Those crimson eyes closed briefly, then opened, and Itachi nodded once.

Kakashi's grey eye moved to Sakura. Gritting her teeth against the cutting grief inside her, she touched his temple, beside his left eye.

"Open it." she ordered softly, voice husky with tears. Kakashi did.

"Quickly," he said, sounding breathless from the blood that was filling his lungs. "They aren't far behind me."

It was the fastest field operation Sakura had done, and she had had plenty of timed trials administered her by Tsunade. Despite her denial at what was happening, and her grief at what was happening, her hands moved competently, assuredly. And when she was finished, Kakashi's left eyelid was closed over an empty socket.

Sakura held Itachi's left eye in her hand gently. "What should I—?"

"Destroy it," Itachi said harshly. His eyes were closed, both of them, and his head was bowed.

Sakura hesitated, one half-second, and then did so. They could not leave it, and it would die quickly outside of a body.

"Good girl," Kakashi breathed. His right eye curved shut in a smile so familiar, so normal, that Sakura felt her heart break.

He did not breathe in again.

There was a beat of silence, in which Sakura and Itachi could hear the approaching Root ninja who had been sent after Kakashi. They were nearly on them.

Itachi opened his eyes. The right was a curved, three-pointed pinwheel. The left was bladed, spiked… a new pattern of vivid red and black. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

A tear welled and dropped from the eye, sparkling crystal-like on Itachi's cheek.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**Kannon—**the 'goddess of mercy' in Buddhism. A bodhisattva associated with compassion. Depicted in both male and female forms. Kannon is her/his Japanese name. Chinese is Guanyin.

* * *

_TH: Yep. I totally just did that. Bam. It was regrettable, but I felt it had to be done. This is war, and who comes out of a war unscathed? Someone important needed to die, to give the situation weight. Kakashi's death just provided too many interesting advancements to the story._

_To preempt-_

_Why didn't Sakura take Itachi's eye for herself?_

_Yeah, right. Because that would be a good idea. She's a medic, she saw what having Obito's eye did to Kakashi, what having a Sharingan did to those not born to have it. And she was the only medic there, which would have made transplanting the eye a bit of a problem. How many people could perform surgery on their own eye?_

_Why didn't Sakura keep the eye and give it to Sasuke, or Naruto, or someone when she rejoined them?_

_There would be no guarantee that she'd have the time, or the chakra, to do so. They were in the middle of running for their lives. And the eye really wouldn't last long. Plus, Itachi said to destroy it, and she respects his decision._

_Anyway. Did you see what I did there, at the end? Hee hee, I love deep meaning in small things._

_I hope people really do read the 'flashbacks' at the beginning of the chapters- they really do contain some important info. I know some people have commented on them, so that's a good sign._

_A final note until next time: Please, please, **PLEASE** review. While it's true that I am doing this for fun, I also would like critiques on my writing. I regard fanfiction as a fun, amusing exercise that strengthens my writing abilities (such as they are...). Plus, it's fun to hear your responses, anyway. Also... it really kinda irks me but, I **have **received reviews on some of my other stories that say, essentially "I was hesitant to read this story because it had a low review count, but now that I have, I love it!" It makes me wonder how many people have passed over my stories just because they don't have huge amounts of reviews, and that just kind of makes me wince.  
_


	11. Fury

_TH: I"M SORRY! This is so late. *cringe*_

_But, um, on the brightside, this chapter has something new! It has been beta'd! Many thanks to MakalaMea!_

_On with the show!  
_

* * *

**SHADES**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven—Fury

* * *

**

_**Four Years Ago**_

_When Itachi first tracked down the group that would eventually become Genshi, it was pathetically small—only eight people. But he was unconcerned by the lack of members. He knew others would come._

_When he had heard that Tsunade had been offered the Godaime seat, and had refused, he hadn't heard who had delivered the offer. When he suspected that the story had been fabricated and that an assassination attempt had been made on her life, he had not suspected that his brother's Genin Team had been involved. So when he had arrived in the small town where his information had placed Tsunade most recently, and had received accounts of a group of people matching the descriptions of Team Seven traveling with a woman matching Tsunade's description, he had felt a moment of cold fear._

_He had not anticipated this. It had never been a possibility, before. But things had changed, and what he had known was not to be, anymore. The path of the future had shifted and he couldn't predict what would happen._

_At least they were still alive. At least the assassins that Itachi knew Danzo would—if he hadn't already—send hadn't gotten his little brother. And now that he was aware that Sasuke was out here, he would make sure that they didn't._

_Jiraiya had been the first of them he encountered. The old Sage knew who he was, on sight, and welcomed him warmly. Jiraiya took him to Tsunade, who had debriefed him on what he knew, and who he had allowed to do so, having accepted her as the rightful Hokage._

_Then, with a hidden smile, she had sent him to see his brother._

_Team Seven had picked up a stray—the former Root agent called Sai. A peculiar young man, but skilled and strangely earnest, considering by who (and how) he had been taught. He was training with them, under the watchful eye of Hatake Kakashi._

_Once upon a time, the best greeting Itachi could have expected from a Konoha ninja was a look of terror and a swift retreat. The worst would have been a snarl of hatred and an attempt on his life. So when Kakashi, noticing his presence right away, gave him a casual nod, as if to say "Oh, there you are. Thought you would show up soon", the comradely greeting warmed him._

_And the warmth stayed, and grew, as Sasuke finally spotted him, and froze, eyes wide with surprise and happiness, and said, "Nii-san?"

* * *

_

_**Present**_

"Step back," Itachi said, and Sakura obeyed almost immediately, responding to the tone of his voice. She could guess what he would do, and although a part of her winced away from it, she knew Kakashi would have agreed to it.

They couldn't leave anything for Root to take back to Danzo, and they couldn't carry the body with them. The usual treatment of those killed on the battlefield was cremation. It made sense.

It just hurt, in Sakura's heart, to admit that Kakashi was really dead and that they had to burn his body. But that didn't mean she protested when she and Itachi backed away from the bloody corpse and Itachi closed his eyes, opened the right one, and said "_Amaterasu_" and the body burst into black flames.

She stood staring at the blaze while Itachi silently turned to face toward Konoha. The Root agents they could hear coming were close. They had mere seconds before they would be upon them.

The first two Root that entered the clearing immediately became enrobed in the eternal flames of _Amaterasu_, and fell to the ground. Standing frozen, Sakura watched one hand—wreathed in dark flame—scrabble briefly at the grass before stilling. Itachi was moving before they'd even hit the dirt.

It was a slaughter. There was no other word for the complete and utter devastation Itachi visited upon the Root ninja who had come after Kakashi. They were systematically eliminated, each falling to Itachi's superior skill.

The battle took place in near silence. The Root agents had been trained not to engage in the usual taunting and shouting that took place during combat, and Itachi had always been above such things anyway. The only sounds were those made by weapons clashing, the casting of jutsu, and mortally wounded men crying out.

Sakura tried to get herself to move, to join the fight, but she remained frozen in place, watching in morbid fascination. None of the Root ninja were trying to engage her in combat—it didn't even seem as if they noticed her presence. Itachi constituted such a threat to them that all else had been shunted to the background.

The Uchiha was fighting with an intensity that took Sakura's breath away. He blazed with it, like a small sun—no, like a star, because he burned cold instead of hot, as if he had completely withdrawn into himself, contracting and condensing into a frigid pinprick of determined fury.

A Root shinobi went down gurgling, his throat slit by Itachi from behind. The kunai, still wet with the shinobi's blood, was sent flashing out to lodge in the eye of another Root agent. Sakura noticed, as the Root crumpled lifeless to the ground, that it was the left eye. She wondered if that had been deliberate.

Five tried, as a group, to overwhelm Itachi, but the Uchiha just glanced at them from the corner of his own, new, left eye. Sakura saw his lips move, but was not close enough to hear him say "_Tsukuyomi_."

The five Root jerked, then simultaneously pulled out kunai and stabbed themselves through the heart. They toppled over in unison. Their black clothes hid the red stains Sakura knew were spreading across their chests.

A _Katon_ reduced another Root to ashes, and a _Suiton_ smashed one into a tree, stunning him until Itachi finished the job with a shuriken. Another Root sent a bolt of lightning toward Itachi, but the Uchiha twisted lithely, and the _Raiton_ merely singed his sleeve. The Root kunoichi died seconds later, with half a tree-limb through her torso.

Finally, the tide of Root agents stopped, and Itachi stood in the clearing, surrounded by scattered bodies and patches of black flame. Except for his singed sleeve, he was untouched, and his breathing was slow and deep.

Sakura had been intimidated by him before, but now? Now she was _terrified_ of him. The level of skill he had shown in that moment had far exceeded anything she had ever seen from him before. _This_ was the true power of Uchiha Itachi. This was the strength of the prodigy who had killed Madara at the age of eleven.

A branch, half cut-away by a line of kunai embedded in it, broke away from its tree and crashed to the ground, snapping Sakura out of her frozen trance. She realized that Naruto and Sasuke, and Gaara and his siblings, were probably still waiting for them at the rendezvous point. And she and Itachi were still in enemy territory. She swallowed thickly.

"I-Itachi…" she managed to choke out. His head turned and she was pinned in place by his blazing eyes, still crimson-and-black with the Sharingan. And Sakura sucked in a gasp, because there was blood running out of the right one.

It took her a moment to realize that the glitter on the other side of his face was from normal tears, tracing tracks down his cheek from his new left eye.

Standing there, staring into his eyes and seeing the fury and grief in them, and the blood and tears silently and steadily trickling down his face, it suddenly hit Sakura that Itachi—with the death of Kakashi—had just lost a friend.

She didn't think the untouchable Uchiha Itachi had many friends.

The glimpse was brief, and the eyes quickly became shuttered. Then Itachi blinked and the Sharingan in them deactivated. Sakura took a step toward him.

"We need to go," he said, and if Sakura hadn't been witness to the rage with which he had fought, and the pain in his eyes after, she might have believed the cold, calm tone. She opened her mouth, but what came out was just:

"Yes."

But she couldn't help but watch him worriedly as they rushed away from the battlefield. Just as she also couldn't help but look briefly back at the little flickers of black flame that were all that was left of Kakashi's pyre.

* * *

Gaara and Kankurou jerked into ready stances as she and Itachi dropped from the trees, and relaxed gradually, recognizing them slowly beneath the blood on them. Behind the brothers were Naruto and Sasuke, with Temari crouched by Naruto, looking at the magatama that had been returned to the Jinchuuriki's arms. She glanced around at their arrival.

"We need to get further away," Itachi said without preamble. Gaara's eyes flickered over his bloody face, and Sakura's blood-covered hands and clothes, and flicked to the empty space beside them, but he didn't ask questions. He merely nodded. Kankurou and Temari, taking their cues from him, silently nodded. It was Sasuke who said:

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura flinched.

"He isn't coming," Itachi replied in a voice completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever. Sakura flinched again. Innocuous-seeming words, but one could hear in them a bleaker meaning. _He isn't coming, he's never coming, he's gone. _Sasuke looked briefly stricken, as if he hadn't believed the Copy Ninja could ever die.

Sakura hadn't really, either. Until it had happened.

The blank shock on Sasuke's face morphed into anger, and his nostrils flared slightly as he took in a sharp breath, eyes narrowing. Itachi cut over whatever he was going to say: "We don't have time to mourn him now. We need to get further away. Danzo will be looking for us."

Shutting his mouth and twisting his lips into a frown, Sasuke nonetheless got to his feet obediently, stooped for a second to grab the magatama once more, and stepped in closer to the others. Gaara glanced around at them all and said, "I will take rear-guard."

"No," Itachi said, his voice, this time, taking on a bit of an edge. "_I_ will take rear-guard."

Gaara was quiet a moment, looking at Itachi thoughtfully, before giving one curt nod. Sakura bit the inside of her cheek to keep from protesting. The older Uchiha was clearly still furious of Kakashi's death, and was even more clearly positioning himself so that any Root who managed to catch up with them would have to pass through him first.

Itachi wanted more blood. Root had not paid enough for taking Hatake Kakashi's life.

Sakura didn't protest because, really, a part of her felt the same.

The part that did want to protest was the part that was worried about Itachi's own wellbeing. He seemed to be almost balanced on the knife-edge of sanity. If this was what happened when Uchiha Itachi lost his temper, she was glad that he was usually so calm and reserved.

As if he were aware of her thoughts, Itachi's gaze—still grey and cool without the Sharingan active—locked onto her. She met it, briefly, saw the echo of the raw grief, pain, and anger she had seen before, and quickly glanced away.

"Alright," Itachi said, coolly. "Let's go."

And they went.

It wasn't so unlikely that Danzo wouldn't send out scouting parties, especially after he had—evidently—encountered and fought Kakashi himself. Danzo would know that the rest of the Copy Ninja's team would be nearby. Would know, now, that the Konoha exiles were allied with Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou. Team Amatsubame's usefulness in Konoha had ended.

They hadn't even completed their whole mission—only the first half of it, the delivery of those scrolls to potential allies. Hopefully, those people would be able to organize themselves and form a base of support for Genshi in Konoha on their own.

The Copy Ninja down, the mission aborted… With a very sick thud of her heart, Sakura remembered their wry joking, how Team Seven's missions always seem to take a turn for the worse. It was dismally true. And now… _:Are we even Team Seven anymore? Can we exist without our leader?:_

She didn't want to know the answer. She didn't want… anything. All she wanted was to curl up in some dark hole and pretend the world didn't exist. _:So this is what war is like.:_

The emotions welling in her choked off her breath for a second, until she shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind. Willfully, she focused fiercely on the motions of running and jumping and listening for pursuit, and let that force out all other thoughts. It helped, a little. It got her all the way to the border of Taki, where they finally stopped, sensing no enemies on their trail. Taki was under Konoha-Akatsuki control, but the country was small enough, and had few enough ninja, that the occupational force stationed there wouldn't have the numbers to send out patrols this far from Taki's Hidden Village. Their presence should go unnoticed, at least for a while.

Gaara and Temari, spearheading their group, stopped first, followed by Sasuke (bearing the magatama) and Naruto. Sakura landed after them. They took a moment to catch their breath.

"We'll stop here," Gaara said, "and regroup."

"Where's my brother?" Sasuke asked.

"He was right behind me," Sakura said, turning around to look. Itachi appeared a moment later, his face and his posture still strictly composed. He landed, poised and upright.

It took everybody by surprise when, only a fraction of a second later, he collapsed. Sakura was close enough and fast enough to catch him awkwardly before he hit the ground.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke said, having shot to his feet. He'd dropped the magatama, and Naruto was crawling toward it, crooning. Sakura fumbled the insensate body around so her arms looped under Itachi's from behind, his head leaned back on her shoulder, and placed a chakra-gloved hand on his forehead.

"He's okay," she said quickly, "just a bit of chakra exhaustion."

Sasuke watched, not looking particularly reassured, as she gently laid Itachi down on the grass, and did what she could to make him comfortable. She sighed as she took her hands away from him. She was, herself, running at about thirty percent, having used quite a bit of chakra earlier with Kakashi and Itachi, and running with chakra-powered speed for the better part of the day.

She looked up to find Sasuke staring at her with a serious expression. Her gut clenched, dreading what he was about to say…

"Sakura," Sasuke spoke slowly and deliberately. "You and my brother went to aid Kakashi-sensei. You came back without him and with my brother drained to the point of collapse. What happened?"

The question was like a physical blow, one that jolted something loose in her, because quite abruptly, and slightly to her own surprise, Sakura threw herself at Sasuke and burst into tears. To his credit, Sasuke caught her and let her sob into his chest.

When she could manage words, she choked out between sobs: "Kakashi-sensei's dead!"

She could feel Sasuke's muscles tense. In a softer tone, he asked again: "What happened?"

Sakura took a couple wavering breaths before she replied. "W-when we got to him, he was already… dying. I… I couldn't _do_ anything!"

She inhaled and braced herself against new tears, then exhaled a little unsteadily. "Kakashi knew he was dying. He told me to give his eye to Itachi—" here everyone's gaze went to the still-unconscious Uchiha "—and then he d-died."

"My brother has the Eternal Mangekyo?" Sasuke said, looking back at Itachi's bloodied face—the older Uchiha had perfunctorily wiped his face against his sleeve but streaks of blood and tears still showed.

"Yes," Sakura replied, shivering slightly as she remembered the utter devastation he had visited upon the Root agents. "Itachi was _furious_. He destroyed the Root that came after Kakashi. It exhausted him, though."

"He only collapsed after the greatest danger had passed," Gaara said. There wasn't any particular inflection in his voice, but it seemed he approved of Itachi's discipline. He turned his gaze to Sakura and said solemnly and with apparent sincerity: "I am sorry. The loss of the Copy Ninja is a loss to all shinobi. He was truly formidable."

"Who killed him?" Sasuke asked, voice hardening.

"Danzo," Sakura shivered. "He said he fought Danzo. Sasuke, he also said that Danzo has the Sharingan."

She was close enough to hear the creak of Sasuke's teeth as he clenched them. He gritted out: "Then Danzo has much to answer for."

* * *

They didn't dwell much on their sorrow, though it remained a constant companion to them. They put their remaining energy into other tasks for the time being, as they had been trained to do as ninja, and as their exile had drilled into them. Sakura brought out her med-kit and saw to any injuries in the group, and washed away the blood and tears that had dried on Itachi's face.

"We should start to think about what to do about the magatama and Naruto," she mentioned. The others considerately didn't acknowledge the lifeless tone of her voice.

"It won't harm him, being under its influence," Gaara said, glancing toward where the other Jinchuuriki was cradling the magatama. "But the longer the stone exists, the longer the danger that it falls into the wrong hands exists."

"We should destroy it as soon as possible," Sasuke said flatly.

"How did you destroy the Ichibi magatama?" Sakura asked the Sand siblings. There was a pause, then:

"'Destroy' is perhaps not the right word," Kankurou said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked darkly, at the same time Temari snapped.

"It's close enough. We broke its power." She looked at Sasuke and Sakura. "We threw every high-level jutsu we could at it, but in the end all we managed to do was put a crack in it. Fortunately, that was enough. To be sure, though, we tossed it into the ocean afterward. It isn't likely to be found."

Sakura was nodding in understanding, but Sasuke was scowling. He obviously didn't like that they had exaggerated their success in eliminating the danger of the Ichibi's stone. Before he could say anything scathing, she spoke: "Then we'll probably have to wait until we are all back at a level at which we can perform strong jutsu."

Then she blinked, "Oh, unless…"

Temari spread her arms. "We're pretty useless right now, too. Gaara might be the only one with enough power to even scratch the thing at this point."

Gaara shifted where he was leaning against a tree. "I will do it."

"Are—" Sakura started, concerned.

"Yes," Gaara interrupted; there was a hard gleam in his turquoise eyes. Sakura glanced at Temari, who gave a minute smile.

"If he says he has enough chakra to destroy the stone, then he does," she said. "He isn't lying, and he isn't overestimating himself or underestimating the stone."

"It would be wiser to wait," Gaara said, acting as if he hadn't noticed this side exchange. "The magatama contains a lot of power; when it is broken, some of this power is released chaotically into its surroundings."

"It's going to explode?" Sakura asked, eyebrows shooting up.

"Not so much in the way that tags explode," Kankurou put in, sounding bored with the whole conversation. "It's pure chakra, and it doesn't do much except ruffle your hair and broadcast your position to anyone within the blast range."

"What is the blast range?" Sasuke wanted to know. He didn't sound particularly pleased with the situation.

Kankurou shrugged. "I'd guess that it's probably different for each stone. How it cracks, and that sort of thing."

"You did say a chaotic release," Sakura murmured. "Which means we can't predict how severe the explosion will be…"

"At the very least it will attract the attention of any nearby ninja," Temari said. "Considering we're still in enemy territory, and we have injured…"

"We'll wait," Gaara said, firmly. "A few hours. By then it will be time to move on anyway. We can carry Uchiha-san, if he is not awake."

There were no protests.


	12. Leaving

_TH: Hi all! Next chapter up. Er... I feel like I wanted to say something, but I can't remember what it is, and I'm in a bit of a hurry, so nevermind._

_Thanks again to my beta MakalaMea!  
_

* * *

**Chapter Twelve—Leaving**

**

* * *

**

_**Three Years Ago**_

_ Finding out that Akatsuki had been forming, despite the fact that the two ninja who would have been its leaders—Pein, the figurehead, and Madara, the true master—were both dead had been worrisome. Itachi had hoped that with those two dead, the S-class renegades that had comprised the organization would continue to do what they'd done prior to Akatsuki's conception: wander as lone wolves. But it seemed that the gods had limits as to how bold one man could be, and Itachi could not stop the dawn from coming. Thoughts of what the group would do without Madara or Pein driving it kept him awake at night. So he devoted himself to finding out just who was behind the Akatsuki._

_ The answer was more than simply worrisome._

_ It hadn't ever occurred to Itachi that Danzo might collect the _nukenin_. In the future he remembered, Akatsuki would have gladly left Konoha a smoking crater in the ground, and Danzo had never—not even here, now—wanted Konoha _destroyed_. He wanted the Village whole, because then he could own it. So, to find out that Shimura Danzo was the mastermind behind this Akatsuki's rising… it was… disturbing, in the most profound sense of the word._

_ Danzo had Konoha. What would he need with an organization of S-class criminals?_

_ It seemed that _this _Danzo had aspirations beyond just the Hokage's hat.

* * *

_

**Present**

The five figures stood in a half-circle around a sixth, which lay curled on the ground. A seventh lay quiescent to the side, chest moving just shallowly with even breaths.

"Will Naruto let go of the stone long enough for us to destroy it?" Sakura wondered aloud, looking down at her blond teammate, who was spooning the red jasper magatama.

"A better question would be, 'will he let us destroy the stone?'" Sasuke muttered. His gaze was divided evenly between his Teammate and his brother, who had not awakened yet from his chakra-exhausted collapse.

"Good question," Sakura mumbled.

"We can restrain him, and as long at the stone doesn't leave his sight, he won't fight it," Kankurou said.

"Give me the magatama," Gaara said. Sakura paused a moment, then stooped and plucked the stone from Naruto's arms. The blond stirred, but didn't move save to follow the stone with his eyes. Gaara weighed the magatama in his hand, and said: "Haruno-san and Uchiha-san should restrain Uzumaki-san."

"How—?"

"He won't fight, but he may try to crawl to the stone," Gaara interrupted Sakura's question. "Just keep him from moving."

Sakura put a hand on Naruto's left shoulder, and Sasuke did the same on the other side. Gaara nodded once, then withdrew a fair distance away and placed the magatama on the ground. Sakura felt Naruto lean forward, and tightened her grip.

Gaara took a couple steps back, and then Sakura could see the rising whirl of his sand blur the air around him. The column of spinning particles rose higher and higher, above Gaara's head, and span faster as it rose. Sakura felt, not for the first time, a thrill of awe and fear.

Then, suddenly and with enough speed that the rush of sand seemed to become almost a solid whip of tan stone, Gaara lashed out. The sound it made when it contacted the Kyuubi magatama was… It was like thunder, and completely disproportional to the strength of the hit—though it was hard—and uncharacteristic of the nature of the strike—sand against stone would not have such a deep, rumbling roar.

Sakura felt her nerves shiver a little, but nothing immediately untoward occurred. Naruto didn't even react to the sight, or sound, of Gaara's attack on the stone.

Gaara himself frowned a little, his sand falling away from the still intact magatama and turning idly around his feet. He resettled himself, falling into a lower stance. His sand rose up again, spinning higher and tighter, and then it tumbled over and arrowed down—Sakura was forcibly reminded of Inuzuka Kiba's _Tsuuga_. It slammed into the red jasper magatama like a drill. And Sakura jerked, just barely remembering to keep her hand on Naruto's shoulder, because the sound this time was like the high-pitched whine of tortured metal and she desperately wanted to clamp her hands over her ears. She had to make do with gritting her teeth and grimacing in pain. Sasuke and Temari hissed, Kankurou yelped a curse, and Naruto whimpered.

The whine scaled up a half octave, and they all cringed. Gaara kept boring down with his chakra-charged sand drill. His eyes were narrowed to mere slits, and every muscle in his body was tensed and sharply defined—clearly, the effort he was putting into this was monumental. And he hadn't even scratched the magatama yet. His lips peeled back from his teeth, and he leaned forward with the intensity of his concentration.

There was a crystalline crash, as that of breaking glass, and the red jasper stone cracked down its middle. A half-beat of silence and utter stillness… then…

The blast of chakra that exploded from the broken magatama bowled Sakura over where she stood. She rolled a few times until she fetched up against a tree. Her head spun and her ears rang—and under the high-pitched drone, everything was muffled; the chakra blast had popped her eardrums. Dazed, she levered herself up onto her hands and knees, and shook her head, blinking rapidly.

The forest around them looked no different for the blast—not surprising, as the explosion had been less physical and more of the spirit. That it had knocked down each and every one of them spoke for the sheer power behind the intangible blow. It took a lot to knock someone off their feet without using physical means.

Sakura slowly gained her feet, as Sasuke did the same a couple yards from her. Kankurou was, somewhere, cursing softly—or loudly; her ears were still popped and she couldn't tell for sure.

She didn't notice until the world had stopped spinning around her that Naruto was also staggering upright, looking as dazed as the rest of them. She inhaled sharply, "Naruto?"

He looked at her with slightly unfocused eyes and blinked, putting a hand to his head. "Ow. What happened?"

And then his blue eyes widened, and his head whipped around. "The ca—Wait. Where are we?"

It was Naruto. _Naruto_. He was back; they really had succeeded in breaking the magatama's power! Sakura couldn't help but bowl into him for a tight hug. Bewildered, Naruto put his arms around her, too. "Sakura-chan? What's going on?"

"There's no time to discuss," Gaara said, having picked himself up from where he'd been thrown—evidently his 'ultimate defense' didn't work against gods' chakra.

"Gaara? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, sounding more and more confused. Gaara ignored the outburst.

"We need to move. That chakra blast was strong enough to have extended to a five-mile radius. Our enemies would have doubtless felt it."

"He's right," Sasuke said. "We need to go."

"No!" Naruto said. "No, wait."

They looked at the blond; Sakura noted that he was very pale, his face drawn. "I didn't… I remember… the Kyuubi's chakra burning… Tell me I didn't turn into it!"

"You didn't turn into it, Naruto," Sakura said quickly. "It was more complicated than that, but we don't have _time_, we need to go."

"Who will carry the Uchiha?" Gaara asked, as Naruto continued to look distraught.

"I will," Sasuke replied at once. Sakura immediately shot that down.

"No. You're still running on a soldier pill, which, I might add, you took hours ago. You're not fit to carry someone who weighs more than you do, brother or not."

Sasuke's expression darkened. "I—"

"I'll do it," said Naruto. Sakura wheeled on him.

"What are you talking about? You're hardly in better shape than him!"

"Am I?" Naruto asked bitterly. "The Kyuubi doesn't let my body run down; I'm perfectly fine."

Sakura snapped her mouth shut on her continuing reprimand—even Sasuke was quiet. They couldn't argue with him; it was true, Naruto was the picture of health. His time under the magatama's thrall had had no ill effects on him. Still, Sakura eyed her blond teammate worriedly.

"Fine," Sasuke was the one who answered, "But if you drop him, idiot…"

He let the threat trail off ominously, and Naruto shot him a look. "I won't," the Jinchuuriki said sullenly.

Sasuke stepped on Sakura's foot as she drew breath to protest again. And then she saw what he was doing for Naruto. She pressed her lips together and gave them both very dark looks. "Fine. Fine, you carry him. But I'll be watching you."

"I have the magatama," Kankurou said impatiently, "So grab the Uchiha and let's go!"

Sakura scowled at him, but didn't argue—he was right, even if the manner of his speech was rough. So Naruto hiked the insensate Itachi onto his back, looping the Uchiha's arms around his neck and his own arms under Itachi's knees. Naruto was broader of shoulder and more heavily muscled than both the Uchiha boys—he carried Itachi easily even without enhancing his strength with chakra.

They abandoned their resting place without a backward glance.

* * *

Sakura was true to her word—she ran beside Naruto and watched both the blond and his cargo. So she noticed right away when Itachi's eyelids twitched, a faint crease forming on his brow.

"Stop," she called ahead to Gaara and Sasuke, who were leading. "Itachi-san is waking."

Sasuke was there immediately, concern showing in the tightness around his eyes. They were perched in one of the massive trees that grew in the region—on a limb that was easily as thick as a man was tall, and so Naruto was able to stretch Itachi out full-length on the branch, but he still took care to lay the Uchiha down in the center of the thickest part. He backed away as Sakura stepped closer.

She knew a shinobi like Itachi—skilled and powerful, former ANBU, veteran of numerous battles and a long-term solo mission—would wake defensively, and wouldn't react well to being hovered over, so she kept some distance back and watched as he came to.

His eyelashes trembled and then lifted, revealing Uchiha-dark eyes. There was thought behind those eyes, conscious recognition of where he was and what his situation was. Sakura felt confident as she moved to his side.

"You had chakra exhaustion," she told him as she lightly placed a hand on his shoulder and scanned him briefly, "as I'm sure you've realized. We're heading back to _Chi no Mori_, with possible enemy pursuit."

"We destroyed the magatama, with Gaara's help," Sasuke explained, "It resulted in a chakra blast that might have pinpointed our location to any enemies within range."

Itachi propped himself on his elbows, licked dry lips—Sakura gave him a drink from her water bottle—swallowed, and nodded. "I understand."

"Naruto was carrying you," Sakura said, pointedly. Itachi nodded again.

"I am still weakened," he acknowledged, "If Uzumaki-san is still capable of bearing me, I would be much obliged."

"Well I'm glad _one _of you has a realistic perception of his capabilities," Sakura muttered under her breath. Judging from Itachi's sardonic glance in her direction, his sharp hearing had caught the remark, but he didn't respond otherwise.

What he did say was, "I'm given to understand that time is of the essence…?"

* * *

Tsunade sat staring at the seven Genshi arrayed before her desk for a moment, and then she stood and walked to the back wall of her office. There were no windows there, as there would have been had they been in Konoha, so instead the Slug Sannin had to make do with a set of paintings. She stared at them intently now, her back to the seven, for several long moments before she spoke.

"So Kakashi is gone…" This was said so softly Sakura almost believed it hadn't been intended for them to hear. Tsunade shook herself and turned around. "Kakashi's death is lamentable, but considering all that has occurred, I suppose I should be grateful we haven't suffered more casualties."

Standing between Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura gritted her teeth at the flash of angry pain that lanced through her. She knew what Tsunade meant, but it still hurt that there could possibly be anything good about the mission. Kakashi-sensei was _dead_—the mission was an unmitigated failure. Even if they had completed half of their objectives, saved Naruto and Sasuke, and deprived Danzo of the Kyuubi and its magatama.

"And I am, once again, truly grateful that you three have decided to join us," Tsunade said, turning her honey-colored eyes to Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari. "I imagine without you that things might have been worse for Team Amatsubame. Thank you."

She sighed and sat down once more. "The news you have brought me is disturbing. I can't imagine what other secrets Danzo might have, if he's kept his Sharingan so well hidden. And these magatama…"

"All Genshi members should be made aware of the stones," Itachi said. "And standing orders to destroy the magatama when encountered should be given—attacks on the Jinchuuriki themselves would be counterproductive."

Tsunade flicked her fingers. "It's already been done. Once Gaara and his siblings came to me with the information, I called a assembly."

Itachi nodded. "I would also counsel that increased guard patrols be instated; now that Danzo is aware of us, and been thwarted by us, he will be keen to strike back. And it is possible we were followed, at least part way, here."

"The order is awaiting my signature," Tsunade said, glancing at a scroll on her desk. She leaned back and drummed her fingers on the surface. "It would be ill-advised for us to make the first move—we know so little about Danzo's forces, at least in specific terms. What we _do_ know is that we should be cautious and alert. For now, I believe we should be on heightened guard, until my spies have returned with their information. What that means for you seven is that you are on stand-by. Get checked out by the medics, and get some rest. I'm sure you could all use it."

Sasuke, Naruto, Temari, Sakura, Gaara, Itachi, and Kankurou all bowed, hearing the dismissal. Tsunade added, as they began moving to leave: "Itachi, please stay back a moment."

He paused, and stepped out of the way to let the others pass. Sakura also paused, and looked at Tsunade. "_Shishou, _might I be allowed to stay as well?"

Genshi's leader lifted an eyebrow at the younger kunoichi. Sakura said, "This is about his eye, right? I think I should be present."

"If that's fine with him," Tsunade looked to Itachi, who made a graceful gesture, and then back to Sakura. "Alright, close the door. And you, Uchiha, sit."

Itachi obeyed, and submitted to Tsunade's touch lifting his chin and peeling back the lid of his left eye. She poked and prodded the eye socket and his temple with fingers and chakra, turned his head this way and that, tracked the movement of the eye, used the penlight she—like any dedicated med-nin—always kept in her pocket to test the response of the transplanted eye, and asked him to activate the Sharingan. The office was quiet except for Tsunade's murmured instructions and questions to Itachi, and his murmured responses. Finally, she stepped back and looked at Sakura.

"The transplant was well done," she said. Tsunade didn't give compliments frequently, and usually Sakura would be thrilled to receive one, but in this case she was just too relieved that the speed-field-surgery had been successful to feel any pride. Sakura closed her eyes briefly and let her breath out in a small sigh.

"Haruno-san performed admirably under the circumstances," Itachi added his own approval in a matter-of-fact tone.

"How is your sight in the other eye?" Tsunade asked after accepting the compliment on Sakura's behalf.

"Somewhat blurred," Itachi admitted, "The Eternal eye's vision is much sharper, but I still have approximately seventy percent functionality in the other."

"You only have the Eternal Mangekyo in the left?"

"Yes."

Tsunade hummed thoughtfully as Itachi let the crimson of the _kekkei genkai _drain from his eyes. "As I said, the transplant was successful, but I still want you to check in with either myself of Shizune once a week until further notice. If any complications arise, I want to catch them early."

She paused, eyeing the Uchiha, then said, "You still have a bit of chakra exhaustion. Go get some rest."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," he replied easily. He stood, bowed, and left, closing the door after himself. Once he was gone, Genshi's leader turned to her pink-haired apprentice.

Sakura looked away, and said, in combined guilt, grief, and anguish, "I couldn't save him, _Shishou_. I couldn't…"

Tsunade sighed, opened her arms, folded Sakura into them, and murmured into pink hair, "I know, I know… Sometimes you're just too late. It's not your fault."

From anyone else, it would have been an empty platitude, but Sakura knew that Tsunade had lost both her little brother and her fiancé, and had also anguished over being 'too late'. The older woman knew what it felt like—she was well aware of the feelings of a med-nin who had just watched a friend die and been unable to stop it. Her comforting words were born of empathy.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and wept into the embrace of her teacher, leader and almost-mother.

* * *

The personal quarters in the Genshi base were small—only room enough for one person to live. Which was why, when Sakura later approached the door to her room and found she could sense several slight chakra signatures within, she was puzzled. The only people she could conceive of entering her room in her absence were Sasuke and Naruto, but this was clearly not them.

She pushed open the door cautiously.

And was greeted with the sight of eight dogs spread across her sparse apartment. She froze in the doorway. Kakashi's _ninken_. Her first panicked reaction was the thought, "No! I can't do this right now!" and the urge to run. But the feeling was fleeting, not to mention stupid. Why would she have to fear them? No reason—what she really feared were her lingering feelings of guilt and grief.

Sakura lowered her eyes, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her. Then she waited. A cold wet nose prodded her hand, and Bull looked up at her with morose bulldoggy eyes. She obliged him with a scratch under the chin, and as she did so, Pakkun spoke, "We know what happened; we were fighting Danzo with Kakashi. We knew, when he dismissed us, that Kakashi wouldn't be able to win. We knew he wouldn't survive."

Sakura blinked burning eyes, but found that she was all out of tears.

"Kakashi knew, too. He always expected to die like this—in battle. Especially after the Fall. So he prepared for it." Pakkun nodded to one of the other dogs, and the lanky brown _ninken _stepped forward, a scroll gripped in its teeth. "Here, Sakura-chan."

Sakura took it, opened it, and bit her lip.

_Sakura-chan,_

_I know you'll take care of them._

_-Kakashi_

_P.S. Ask Tsunade to forgive me for preempting her slugs._

Below the words was a _henohenomoheji_, and below that was a storage seal. Sakura hesitated, then activated it. With a poof of smoke, a larger scroll appeared. It was more ornate that the simple message scroll it had been sealed into.

… It was Kakashi's summons contract.

Sakura's eyes jerked up from the contract scroll to Pakkun. The very first thought in her head popped out of her mouth, plaintive and confused, "Why me?"

"Kakashi knew he could trust you with us," Pakkun answered plainly, "You'd care."

"But I…" she started and stopped. Naruto's absent-mindedness wouldn't make him a very good contractor for an animal summons as social as dogs—the toad-summon that Jiraiya was planning on giving the blond would be a better match, as toads were perfectly content to be left alone for stretches of time. Sasuke already had his family's cat-summons, so giving him a dog contract would probably have been a poor choice. And Itachi had his own crow-summons.

And Sakura _would _care. She liked the _ninken_, and got along with them. And… they were something of her teacher that she could keep.

"I'm honored," she said formally. Kakashi wouldn't have given her the scroll without first asking his dogs if they'd be willing to contract Sakura. That she had it meant not only that Kakashi trusted her, but that Pakkun and the others did as well. "And I accept."

She went through the process of signing the contract, and after rolling it up, one of the dogs—Shiba—took it back and made it disappear back wherever the summons kept it. Then she looked over her new allies.

"Well," she said, "Is there anything I need to do for you?"

"A couple bones wouldn't go awry," Pakkun said wryly, "But no, nothing that you need to do."

Sakura nodded and then paused shyly. "Can…"

She stopped and finally another of the dogs, Urushi, prompted, "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you to…" Sakura paused again and then asked, "Could you keep the vests? Please?"

The dogs smiled.

"Sure," Pakkun replied. He sounded glad to hear her request; Sakura supposed that they also missed Kakashi. She smiled back at Kaka—_her_—dogs, and knelt down among them. They crowded around to give her a good sniff, and as they did she promised them.

"We'll avenge him. I swear it."

* * *

It took Sakura a few moments to gather herself after contracting Pakkun and the other _ninken_. Once she had acquainted herself more personally with each of them, they _poof-_ed back to the summons realm in which they lived, and Sakura was once again alone in her room. She carefully rolled up the scroll in her hand—the last message she'd ever get from Kakashi—and tucked it away in the keepsake box she kept in her desk drawer. As she laid the scroll in the box, she pulled out one of the other items within—her Konoha _hitai-ate_. She rubbed a thumb across the engraved Leaf symbol before lovingly refolding the ties and putting it back. The box went back into the drawer.

Sakura inhaled deeply and let the breath out in a sigh.

She was a kunoichi—a ninja. She'd trained from a young age to fight, to kill. She learned that her purpose was to kill the bad guys. She learned that sometimes the good guys died, too. She learned the stages of grief, and what it meant to grieve in a healthy manner. But most of all, Sakura, and her classmates at the Academy, learned how to function with, and through, the pain of losing one of their comrades. Because they were ninja. They were soldiers. They didn't have the luxury of mourning periods. They had to keep fighting, even if all their friends had fallen.

Losing Kakashi had hurt, when it had happened, but the _true_ pain hadn't come until later, when—for Sakura—Tsunade had embraced her and let her cry. Up until then, Sakura had been operating mindlessly, in a way, like a machine. She followed her training—concentrate on the mission, on survival. There'd be time for grief later, if you did so.

She wondered if they _did _have time, right now. Danzo's forces, and Danzo himself, would be furious at having been played by Genshi. He had lost the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, and the Kyuubi magatama. He had also had the illusion that his Konoha was secure violently shattered by their attack. Danzo would be _livid_. The satisfaction the corrupt Hokage was undoubtedly feeling at having neutralized the Copy Ninja would not be enough of offset the injuries his pride and his plans had just suffered. He was going to be looking for a way to hurt Genshi.

Sakura shivered, hugging herself.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

**Tsuuga—**Piercing Fang, or Tunneling Fang. The taijutsu-class move in which the user spins at a high speed and delivers powerful attacks on contact with his/her target. Kiba can also do this attack with Akamaru, making the Gatsuuga, the Dual Piercing Fang.

**henohenomoheji—**the face that is drawn on Kakashi's dogs' vests. It's used as the face of scarecrows in Japan. The name comes from the fact that it is composed of those hiragana: he-no-he-no-mo-he-ji.


	13. Ominous

_TH: I remember what I was going to say in my last update. It was "Chapter 13 may take a little while to get posted. Please be patient." Ahaha... er... Yeah. Sorry._

_But here it is! And I think 14 won't take as long. We're winding up for the end, if people hadn't noticed. Wow! Already..._

_Anyway, please review! I love hearing from you guys!_

_Thanks to MakalaMea for betaing!  
_

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen— Ominous

* * *

**

_**Four Years Ago**_

_Sakura always had a certain stubborn-streak. What she knew she wanted, she fought for until she got it. Giving up was difficult, at least for Sakura. She was focused, determined, even to the point that she forgot the origin of her convictions. So it was understandable that she didn't realize how much her life's path had been influenced by Itachi until he reappeared after the Fall of Konoha. Seeing him again brought her memories back, and made her think about what he must see when he looks at her._

_ When she was six, he rescued her from bullies and gave her the advice, "study and practice to become a better ninja… then they won't be able to pick on you." She had taken his words to heart._

_ And then, when he encountered her practicing, he helped her even more to grow as a ninja. What he taught her, she kept, even when he'd left._

_ Not to mention that he'd been the one to plant the thought of medical ninjutsu into her mind. Once she'd become aware of the possibility, she had determined that she wanted to be a med-nin. So she'd made it her goal: She was going to become the best kunoichi and the best med-nin she could. Like the great Sannin Tsunade._

_ That seed had grown, spurring Sakura to study every medical volume in Konoha's library, and later when the opportunity arose, it bolstered her courage enough to allow her to ask for training from Tsunade herself. _

_ When she was younger, she hadn't seen how _fiercely _she had grabbed and followed what Itachi had said to her. He tells her to train harder to stop bullies from bothering her, and she trains so hard she becomes one of Konoha's strongest up-and-coming kunoichi. He mentions medical ninjutsu, and she becomes apprenticed to the most powerful of the med-nin. It was so painfully obvious, now, how much she had idolized Itachi._

_ She didn't, in any event, regret that she had gone along with Itachi's nudging. Her hard-won skills had allowed her to stay with her 'family'—Team Seven—and her medical expertise had allowed her to protect them as best she could. If anything, she was grateful to him.

* * *

_

**Present**

If Sakura had learned only two things about Naruto in her time with him they were: 1) Naruto did not like to worry people, or burden them with his problems, so he often pretended to happier than he actually was, and 2) having been ostracized for much of his life, Naruto placed high value on what friends he had. Considering both these things, it was not surprising that when Sakura found Naruto, he was locked up alone in his room, and that, when he saw her, he offered her a bright welcoming smile.

She was not fooled.

Sakura went to him and sat down beside him, putting her arms around him and laying her head on his shoulder. Naruto hesitated a moment, but then put his own head down so that it leaned on the top of hers.

Just being together was comforting. Sakura closed her eyes and sighed; Naruto echoed her a moment later, and she could feel a little more tension leak out of him. They didn't say anything, but a few minutes later by unspoken agreement, they got up and went to search out the other remaining member of Team Seven.

Sasuke wouldn't ask for support in his sorrow. It would be up to his Teammates to provide it anyway.

When they found him, though, he was not alone. Itachi was with him, Sakura noted with approval. They were seated back-to-back on the ground of one of Genshi's forested training rooms, lending quiet support to each other.

Itachi was sleeping, his face paler and thinner with his lingering exhaustion, leaning back against his younger brother, chin tucked to his chest. He flicked his eyes open briefly as he subconsciously sensed the approach of Sakura and Naruto—upon seeing it was them, he lapsed back into slumber.

Sakura hesitated a bare moment before settling herself next to the two Uchiha and leaning against their joined shoulders. Naruto hesitated a touch longer before mirroring her on their other side, making a square of their bodies. She closed her eyes and basked in the comforting proximity of her teammates. Even Itachi's steady presence was a comfort, harkening back to the days when she—and Sasuke and Naruto—had looked up to the older Uchiha for tutelage and protection.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice broke the silence abruptly. Her eyes opened to stare at the earthen ceiling.

"Yeah, I know," she said. And then: "Do _you _know it's not yours?"

She felt Naruto flinch, even through Itachi and Sasuke.

"I… I think so," Naruto muttered.

"Kakashi-senpai made his decision to rescue you and Sasuke knowing fully the risks inherent," Itachi's quiet, measured voice broke in. "There can be no blame in what was his own informed decision."

"We can blame Danzo," Sasuke said darkly.

"Yeah," Naruto said, with more malice in his voice than anyone might attribute to the blond, "Yeah, let's do that."

"Revenge does sound… enjoyable," Itachi mused.

"Then we're agreed," Sakura said. "We'll make Danzo pay for what he's done. All of it."

* * *

Their thoughts turned to less bloody, less grim things after a while, as fatigue made itself known to their bodies. Some measure of serenity crept into them through their quiet togetherness, and slowly all four ninja relaxed and dozed lightly, propping each other up as they sat back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

Sakura slipped in and out fitfully, as each time she dropped into slumber, nightmarish recollections of Kakashi's death rose to greet her, and she mentally flinched awake. She managed to keep her discomfort contained, though, so that her Teammates didn't sense it and have their own calm shattered, and their continued serenity helped Sakura regain hers.

Amid the flickers and flashes of memory and dreams, Sakura couldn't help but run through Kakashi's death over and over in her conscious periods. And as she did, something that she had shrugged off at the time grew to bite at her curiosity. Finally, she gave in and spoke, very quietly: "Itachi-san?"

He had been sleeping, but woke instantly. "Yes?"

She turned her head so she could see his profile out of the corner of her eye. His eyes remained closed, his face in repose. Naruto and Sasuke were still napping.

"Kakashi said Danzo 'knew'. What did he mean?"

Itachi's eyes opened and he met her glance with one of his own. "I can't tell you that."

"…Oh. Dangerous?"

Itachi turned his face back and closed his eyes again. He was silent for so long, Sakura thought he wouldn't answer, but then he said, very quietly, "Dangerous? In a sense…"

Which did nothing but confuse her more. But she held back her questions—he didn't seem particularly inclined to talk about it, and she respected him well enough not to pry. She couldn't help but frown in dissatisfaction though. Little was more irritating than to have unanswered questions.

Eventually, she let go of the annoyance and dozed a bit longer, but her rest was soon ended.

Itachi stood abruptly, and Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all jerked awake as the support of the older Uchiha's back disappeared from behind them. Startled by the sudden upset, they looked around, instantly on guard. Itachi stood, posture rigid with tension, eyes intent on the doorway into the training ground.

Sai appeared within its frame, even paler than usual, his smiling-mask gone. His eyes locked on them, and he stepped toward them, grimly. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were on their feet in an instant, alarmed by Sai's unusual manner.

"S-Sai!" Sakura said, surprised. "You're back!"

He had been sent on an espionage mission a while back, to keep an eye on events in Kumo. Either his mission was over, or he'd been called back.

But it didn't seem that they'd have time for a reunion. Sai barely acknowledged the greeting.

"There's news," he said tersely. "Danzo's army is marching on us."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and then…

"_What_?" Naruto snapped. "But he doesn't have all the Bijuu or anything!"

"If you think he's going to wait for that—" Sasuke started derisively. His brother interrupted.

"Danzo has four of the Bijuu. The Yonbi, Gobi, Shichibi, and the Hachibi. He has a standing army that includes his Root forces. Genshi has the Kyuubi and the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, and approximately seventy-three members, five of which are away on intelligence missions. Danzo can call upon the forces of the Akatsuki and the countries he controls through them. We have a collection of exiled ninja and civilians." Itachi's voice was bland as he said: "I imagine Danzo sees us as easily disposed of. We may threaten him, in that we are an organized group of True Konoha shinobi, led by Tsunade, and including the Jinchuuriki Uzumaki Naruto, but against Danzo's allied forces, we have a distinct disadvantage."

"That's not—" Sakura stepped deliberately on Naruto's foot to silence him.

"That being the case," Itachi continued, "It makes sense that Danzo is moving against us now. We've provoked him, first of all, by attacking his seat of power. We've also just lost one of our premier ninja at his hands, and he has us on the run."

"He just wants to get us out of the way before continuing on with his ultimate plan," Sakura said. "He wants control of all the Countries, all the Hidden Villages. We're just in his way."

"There is more," Sai said, nodding agreement with her. "The patrols say that he brought Orochimaru with him."

Naruto growled.

"Is Orochimaru the only Akatsuki member Danzo brought?" Itach asked, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Sai looked at him.

"He's the only one the patrols have mentioned," he replied. "If there are others, they've not been visible."

"Danzo might be keeping them hidden as a trap, but that's too obvious…" the older Uchiha murmured.

"So then, do you think it _is_ only Orochimaru?" Sakura asked him. Itachi was silent, his eyebrows draw down in a slight frown. They all waited for his answer, but it didn't seem as if he had heard the question at all. He didn't look at them, and after a moment, he strode quickly out of the room.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura exchanged looks, as Sai slanted a glance after Itachi, shook his head and said: "We should follow him; Tsunade-sama called an assembly."

* * *

"We all knew this day would come," Tsunade said grimly. In her mind, Sakura added the unspoken, '_we just didn't think it'd come so soon.'_ Standing between Naruto and Sasuke in the assembly, her usual feelings of confidence and pride were somewhat diminished. This time, she was all too aware of the holes in their ranks left by deaths, and of the rather meager number of combat-ready ninja in Genshi. All of what Itachi had said was true—compared to Danzo's forces, Genshi was like a bug.

Sakura closed her eyes, briefly tuning out Tsunade's ongoing speech. _:Our chances of victory are slim… But… at least we'll die fighting for what we believe in. At least we'll die at peace with ourselves. And maybe we'll take some of those bastards with us.:_

"This fight will be largely defensive," Tsunade was saying as Sakura started listening again, "but we'll have to be careful not to allow it to become a simple war of attrition. We will not hole up inside our base—we will stand and fight Danzo and his army with honor!

"Danzo is attacking us now because we have pricked him. He has seen who and what we actually are, and _it makes him nervous_! We are the embodiment of his lies, the pivot on which his entire empire can turn. He knows we are few, but he also fears what we may accomplish if he does not crush us now."

Tsunade favored her people with a dark smirk. "I say we give him something to really fear."

As if her feral expression were infectious, sharp grins spread across the faces of Genshi, and a rallying shout rose up. Beside Sakura, Naruto growled eagerly. Over the noise of Genshi's strengthened conviction, Tsunade shouted a dismissal, calling for every one to take up their positions.

Sakura turned to look at her Teammates. Sai had stood with them during the assembly, quiet, his smile still absent. She looked at him now, relief and worry intermingling. After the Fall, the former Root shinobi had become something of a friend. He'd been placed on their Team as an auxiliary several times, at least before he had been sent on his spy mission, and they'd sort of adopted him. Sakura was glad he was home safe, but he had yet to smile. And for someone who used smiles as often as Sai did, this was strange.

"Sai," Naruto said, drawing the pale boy's attention. "Are you joining us for the fight?"

Sai shook his head. "I have orders to replace a Jounin from another Team—he was killed a few weeks ago, and left a hole in his Team."

"Oh." Naruto said, and Sakura just barely refrained from saying 'but Kakashi's death left a hole in _our _Team, too.' But Sai heard it anyway, because he glanced at her and said:

"I heard about Kakashi-san. I am sorry." He paused and added, in a typical Sai way, "But I'm sure the hole he left has been addressed."

A little callous, maybe, but he didn't mean any harm. Sakura sighed. "Of course. Be careful, Sai."

He blinked, and then nodded. Looking from Naruto to Sakura to Sasuke, he said seriously: "Each of you should take care as well. This will not be an easy fight. Root trains its members to be ruthless, merciless."

"We'll match them blow for blow," Sasuke spoke up, grimly. Sai looked at him a beat, and then smiled.

"Of course," he said. He lifted a hand. "I need to get my brushes and inks and meet up with my Team."

"Good luck!" Sakura called after him as he disappeared into the crowd. She looked back at Naruto and Sasuke. "We should gear up, too."

They nodded.

* * *

Tsunade, as the _de facto_ general of Genshi, and as the leader of its medics, would remain behind the lines of fighting to direct the troops via her slug summons, and to heal the worst injured as they were transported back to her. Shizune, likewise, would remain as a back-line medic. Sakura, however, had trained extensively as a combat medic and was an integral part of Team Seven. Though she would have been able to hold her own with the likes of Tsunade and Shizune, her place was on the front lines, providing support for Naruto and Sasuke, and emergency field care for Genshi's injured.

The first thing Sakura did, then, was to get her med-kit from her room, along with as many weapons as she could carry. And as she did, so did the rest of Genshi.

They were all preparing for war.

Sakura changed into her combat uniform—the dark clothes and armor that Genshi members wore on patrol and during missions—but forewent the mask. There was no reason to hide her identity anymore. The last thing she put on was her Genshi _hitai-ate_.

She would have preferred to wear her Leaf _hitai-ate_, but that wouldn't be possible. Not until Danzo and Root fell.

Her fists clenched, and her eyes narrowed with hate.

:_Should it please any listening _kami_ to grant my wish, let Genshi win this war…:_

* * *

Genshi didn't have the manpower to stand on an even battlefield with Danzo. That meant that they would have to use every trick they could to whittle down the army before they had to close with it in true combat.

Danzo would know that Genshi, by dint of having lived and hidden there for years, would know _Chi no Mori _better than his own troops—this would give the rebels an advantage in the trees. That being so, he would probably not want to engage Genshi's soldiers within the forest they knew so well, at least not until he'd broken their defense.

Genshi, then, would have to lure Danzo's army into the trees if they wanted to use their advantage. So, their most skilled and powerful _genjutsu _users set up the first stage of Genshi's strategy: They laid an area-effect illusion over the edge of _Chi no Mori_, to make a portion of the forest appear as a field.

But just that would not be enough to really stop Danzo. So, under that illusion, they laid another—one of a field of razorwire and pitfalls. If any of Danzo's army gave the place a casual look, they might assume that the top illusion was to cover the fact that the field was littered with traps. Of course, the number that would fall for that would be few. 'Look underneath the underneath' wasn't just Hatake Kakashi's favorite saying.

So, a third layer of the _genjutsu _showed entrenched Genshi laying in wait for Danzo's army.

And a fourth was just a plain, empty field.

But in the end, what really lay under all the illusions was forest. Genshi, in the spirit of 'the deader, the better,' set traps between the trees; razorwire that was all but invisible until the first victim painted the bladed filaments with blood, explosive tags set to go off with proximity, tripwires designed to release hails of poisoned projectiles…

What was real and what wasn't? The hope was that the enemy might confuse that question amid the jumble of _genjutsu_, and fall for the traps. At the very least, Genshi hoped that the army might pause to untangle the knot of illusion and reality, thus giving them an opening to get in the first attack.

Or rather, attacks. Genshi's battle tactic was to be of a more guerrilla nature—they had been blocked into Teams of four or so, like typical ninja teams. The groupings lent themselves well to hit-and-run, needling attacks. They would attack in carefully concerted jabs, each group popping out of the sheltering trees to strike at the enemy before vanishing into the forest once more.

Of course, once combat started, all tactics and strategies were likely to be rendered moot by the chaos of battle. They could only hope for the best. Hope that Danzo's army fell for at least some of their traps, and brought no surprises of their own.

* * *

Sakura perched in a tree with Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi. It seemed that Sai had been correct in assuming that the hole left by Kakashi's death would be filled—either because Tsunade had ordered him, or on his own authority, Itachi had attached himself to Team Seven. Either way, Sakura was glad to have him with them. Not only was he a competent fighter (or well beyond competent, if she was going to be entirely truthful), but he'd also be able to keep her other two Teammates from doing anything too reckless.

Naruto and Sasuke respected him more than they did her, blast them. Oh well, the same could be said of her.

In any case, the four of them were tucked away in trees on the left flank of the forest, slightly advanced from the body of Genshi's forces. With them, at irregular intervals, a dozen other Teams were arrayed, shaping Genshi's forces into something like a horseshoe, with their _genjutsu_'d killing field in the middle of the curve.

Should Danzo's army enter the area, those Teams would be positioned to attack the army's flanks. A war on three fronts.

There were severe doubts that the enemy would fall for it, but the formation also lent itself to another tactic. Danzo's army wasn't big enough to surround _Chi no Mori_. There was no real danger of Genshi being outflanked and trapped. So, if the enemy did not fall for their _genjutsu _and enter the teeth of the trap, the flanking Teams could retreat and collapse the 'U' back into a solid line, preferably flitting in and out of cover and stinging Danzo's forces as they went.

Sakura ran over the orders, the tactics and strategies, again and again, adrenalin making her body sing and her thoughts race. She was nearly vibrating with the need to move, with the need for action. But, hidden as they were supposed to be, they could not move or make sound, or otherwise give away their position. She crouched motionlessly on her branch, keeping firm hold on her desire to fidget.

Naruto, on a branch slightly ahead and below her, was having a difficult time of it. She could see the muscles in his shoulders tensing and relaxing as the restless blond tried unobtrusively to alleviate his jitteriness.

Then, Itachi, at their fore, visible to all of them, raised his hand.

They were coming.

Sakura inhaled, nostrils flaring, and leaned forward ever so slightly. Unbidden, an old warrior prayer-chant leapt into her mind. _:Speed my fists and feet; speed my sword—Death to my enemies!:_

A rustle of leaves. The barest hint of movement. Itachi's upraised hand chopped down, and Team Seven flashed forward, swift as a slashing blade.

Sakura's first glimpse of Danzo's army almost froze her in place with terror. _:So many!: _But she was already in motion, a heavy downward punch designed to shatter the ground under the enemies' feet, unstoppable. And once she'd struck, she'd recovered from the shock of seeing first-hand what Genshi was up against, and moved fluidly into her follow-through attack.

In the surprise of the attack, and the disorder caused by the upheaval of the earth, Sakura managed to fell one of the Root shinobi. Since that was all that was required of her for this hit-and-run, as soon as she'd done so, she retreated with all speed back into the forest at her back. A flicker of familiar chakra and a flash of movement beside her told her that Sasuke had joined her.

Naruto and Itachi joined up a heartbeat later, and all four leaped and twisted through the forest, leaving behind several dead Root and the rest on edge.

The whole attack took no more than a minute.

"There were so many of them," Sakura said, the image of the mass of enemies coming back to her now. Danzo's army was not thoroughly aware of Genshi's presence; the order of silence was moot. She fought off a shiver.

"Yes," Itachi replied. He offered no reassurances. Sakura couldn't stop the shiver this time.

On her shoulder, Tsunade's slug summon, one of several dozen dispatched to connect Genshi's leader with her troops, stirred. "Light casualties to the flanking Teams. Several dozen Root troops wounded or dead."

"Several dozen down, several hundred to go," Sasuke muttered.

* * *

As they suspected, but still hoped against, Danzo's army did not fall for their trap. At least, not completely. A few advance parties of scouts lost their realities and were lost in the _genjutsu, _but the majority of the enemy stopped at the disguised edge of _Chi no Mori_. The two arms of Genshi Teams retreated back to the main body of their own force, and prepared for the battle to begin in earnest.

At the edge of Genshi's line, Team Seven (plus Itachi) fell into their place. None the worse for wear, they were limber and tensed, ready for the next move.

Since she was standing beside him, Sakura heard Itachi hiss slightly when Danzo's army broke the _genjutsu_. He had been one of the architects of the illusion, and so felt the recoil as the chakra that had held it in place dispersed. Sasuke, who had also helped cast the _genjutsu_, was less subtle, and cursed quietly.

"The _genjutsu _is down," said the Katsuyu clone sitting on Sakura's shoulder. She could hear a sort of echo along the ranks, as the other slug-clones passed the same message to their assigned Teams. "Get ready."

And Danzo's army pressed the line.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

_**kami**_**—**central objects of worship in Shinto. They aren't necessarily 'gods' in the Western view, but more like spirits—the best known definition is 'any thing or phenomenon that produces the emotions of fear and awe, with no distinction between good and evil.' People pray and ask for the blessings of _kami_; for example, students often pray to Tenjin, the _kami _of scholarship.


	14. Reinforcements

_TH: Hey all. Chapter 14 comin' atcha. Please, please review!_

Big thanks to beta MakalaMea!

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen— Reinforcements

* * *

**

_**Three Years Ago**_

_He must have been planning this for years. How else could he have had undercover agents in such high positions in foreign lands? It took years to establish an alternate identity well enough to manage that. And to get three of them so high and so deep in those countries' inner circles that they could assassinate the leaders…_

_ Genshi's investigations into Danzo, Akatsuki, and the rise of Root-Konoha had unveiled something on a much larger scale than they had originally guessed. Even years before Danzo had seized power in Konoha, his Root agents had been infiltrating the governments of the other major ninja countries, and many minor ones as well. Presumably, it was a measure to give Konoha an edge, should they ever need it. War had loomed over the Leaf several times, so it was understandable that Danzo—in Konoha's best interest, as usual—had put his people into positions were they could access potential enemies' vital information._

_ Evidently, once Danzo had the Hokage's seat, and his ambitions grew, he realized that those perfectly placed spies could very easily be converted into perfectly placed assassins._

_ Earth, Lightning, Waterfall, and Grass's leaders were all taken out in one fell swoop, as Danzo's order reached the Root agents in those countries. Danzo almost immediately began attacks on Waterfall and Grass. A few months saw Konoha-Akatsuki control of those two minor ninja lands. At the same time, agents in Rain, Hotsprings, Frost, and Wave facilitated the bloodless take-over of their respective countries. With forced-treaties binding their new acquisitions into providing aid, Konoha-Akatsuki started the war on Earth, with the odds tipped heavily in Danzo's favor._

_ And this had all been accomplished within a couple years of Danzo's ascent to Hokage. Clearly, he had had the pieces all placed long before that. The speed of it, the methodical efficacy… It was a plan that was almost admirable, if one ignored the ethics of it.

* * *

_

**Present**

Ninja were trained to fight in cells, not as a mass army. That being so, when Root and Genshi clashed, it was in controlled pockets. Team versus team. The battlefield was set up with this in mind, with Teams spaced out with the intent that those spaces would become individual bubbles of war, standing alone until one Team or the other won. If you beat your enemies, then you went on to the next, joined that fight, and so on, from bubble to bubble.

Team Seven had already worked its way through three Root Teams. Their current battle was a little tougher than the others; the Genshi Team that had been engaged before Seven joined had already lost a member, and a second was under Sakura's ministrations for a broken wrist. The other two had only superficial wounds, and were fighting along with Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi.

Sakura tied off the last bandage of the Genshi Chuunin's splint and patted him on the shoulder. In the grand scheme of things, a broken wrist wasn't a major injury, at least not enough of one to take this shinobi out of the fight. He'd rejoin his living Teammates until one of three things happened: he got really injured and was taken off the line, the war ended, or he was killed.

"Thanks," he said absently as he stood, already pulling out a weapon, his eyes on his comrades fighting. Sakura packed away her supplies and stood, too.

She took a moment to watch the fight—how her comrades were fighting, what Root's apparent strategy was and what their skills were—and then she cracked her knuckles and jumped in.

Her punch shattered the bark of a tree as her intended target dodged just at the last second. She didn't let it faze her; she lashed out again with her other fist, grazing the enemy's shoulder. But even a graze is enough when it's a chakra-charged punch. Right now, the Root's arm was probably completely numb.

Sure enough, the enemy shinobi leapt away, arm hanging limply at his side, his other hand rising to grip the limb. A green glow announced that this Root agent had been taught at least some rudimentary healing techniques. The tingle from Sakura's punch wouldn't last forever, and with the enemy speeding the healing process along, he wouldn't be disadvantaged for long. Sakura pressed her advantage, flickering forward with a flying kick.

He ducked under it, slashing above his head with a kunai to try to catch her off-guard. A flick of her wrist and she was knocking his weapon off-target with a kunai of her own. The aerial gymnastics she was doing sent her veering off to the side, where she kicked off a nearby tree trunk to right herself. She landed on the balls of her feet, eyes narrowed and watchful.

Her opponent pulled out a _Fuuma shuriken_. The cutting edges of the blades caught the sun, and reflected blue sky—the steel was bright and clean, free of blood for now.

Sakura intended that it _stay _that way.

He hurled the weapon at her, and even over all the sounds of the war raging around her, she could hear its approach perfectly.

_Whurrrrr—THWACK!_

The _Fuuma shuriken _embedded itself into a tree behind her as she threw herself to the side in a tucked roll. When she straightened, the Root was beside her, kunai leading a thrust. Sakura used her open hand in a sweeping motion to knock the blow down and to the side; the kunai sliced a tear in her skirt, but missed her skin.

"_Su!_" She hissed the exhalation as she brought the heel of her other hand into the Root's chest, the hard strike shoving the enemy back a few steps. Sakura followed it up with a handful of senbon.

The Root agent used his _tekko_ to catch all the projectiles easily, and in response tossed an exploding tag at Sakura. She dodged it, but in mid-air the tag folded itself into a glider and followed her movement.

Damn, a paper-jutsu.

Sakura jumped in a zigzagging line, the exploding-tag-paper-glider following. Great. So Sakura had to either avoid or destroy the glider _and_ contend with the Root shinobi himself. Well, the jutsu that kept the glider after her would fail once its originator died, so if she just focused on killing the shinobi…

She dodged the glider again, and _shunshin_'d toward him, pulling her _ninjato _from its sheath on her back as she went. The glider tightened its nose a little, and arrowed suddenly toward her. Sakura flinched away, cutting off her attack as the paper glider chased her away from the Root shinobi.

Apparently, she'd have to get rid of the glider first. She glanced behind her; it was still there, and gaining speed. If she could set if off somehow, without getting caught in the blast herself… Or if she were able to cut through the paper without setting off the explosive-jutsu inked onto it…

The kunai she tossed back at it whizzed past it harmlessly as it twitched out of their paths.

Sakura cursed. It was gaining on her!

She pressed her speed, and jumped high into the forest canopy, kicking off two tree trunks side by side. In mid-air, she turned and sent another kunai down at the glider as it followed her into the climb.

Her blade nicked a wing, and the glider wobbled…

And was immolated as a fire-ball whooshed through the air from the side.

Sasuke appeared behind the fire-jutsu, eyes flicking up to Sakura to check that she was alright. She landed on a branch and waved her thanks. Sasuke jumped up to her.

"Itachi is taking care of the Root—he's the last in this pocket. We'll be moving on soon," he said. Sakura nodded.

"Any injuries?" she asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"Nothing too bad. Naruto caught a shuriken bare-handed, but it's practically healed now, with the Kyuubi boosting the regeneration."

"Right. I should—"

Sakura was interrupted by the low, haunting sound of a conch-shell horn blowing. Her eyes went wide and her head snapped around to look in the direction the noise came from.

Conch, a large ocean shell, were most often by samurai. Their shape and size were such that they were easily converted into horns, and the use that they saw most was as warhorns. They called people to battle, announced the arrival of armies…

Team Seven had been placed at the edge of the line; that being so, they were well positioned to see the couple-hundred-odd force that was marching to join the battle from the west. Reinforcements. But Sakura couldn't think of any Genshi's allies who were not already fighting… unless… but how could they have marched an army our from under Danzo's nose…?

Sakura's brow furrowed as she peered off through the edge of _Chi no Mori_, onto the grassy plain that lead up to the forest.

The combat around them stilled briefly, as both sides paused to also look at the newcomers. Team Seven formed up, Naruto and Itachi appeared beside Sasuke and Sakura, ready.

Itachi and Sasuke, their eyes red with their activated bloodline limit, stared intently at the approaching reinforcements. Then, abruptly, Itachi inhaled sharply, and _shunshin_'d toward them. Startled, the rest of Team Seven scrambled momentarily to catch up with their Teammate—they wouldn't let him face whoever it was alone.

As soon as they were close enough for her to see clearly, Sakura also found herself sucking in a breath.

They landed amongst the newcomers as Itachi was clasping wrists with Yamanaka Inoichi. Ino's father was grinning sharply, and Itachi had a faint smile hovering around his mouth as well.

Behind Inoichi were arrayed other members of the Yamanaka Clan, members of the Nara Clan, Akimichi Clan, Inuzuka, Aburame, and several other clans. Sakura could see Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, Neji, Kiba, and Shino. Some of the older Konoha ninja who had been left behind when others of Genshi had fled were also present.

They were all dressed for war. But they weren't wearing their Konoha headbands. Instead, they had all somehow acquired headbands that were blank except for a single horizontal slash…

"Inoichi-san," Itachi greeted, in a tone that could be described as warm.

"Itachi-san," the Yamanaka replied, releasing Itachi's arm and stepping back. Nara Shikaku, standing beside him, stepped forward and spoke:

"We, the remaining inheritors of the Will of Fire, have come to offer our support to Genshi."

Sakura had started to smile, and couldn't keep the expression from widening. These were all the Clans, all the people Team Amatsubame had delivered Tsunade's messages to! Despite the fact that they hadn't completed that mission, their friends in Konoha had still organized, had still figured some way to disobey Danzo and help Genshi. They had found some way to march their army out of Konoha without Danzo knowing.

Maybe… Maybe Genshi _did _have a chance! With all these anti-Danzo ninja joining the fight, Genshi's numbers had swelled to three hundred forty-seven. Much better odds than before.

But then, even as Sakura's hope was growing—

"We need to warn you," Shikaku added, "If you haven't already found out. Orochimaru is with Danzo's army—"

"We know," Naruto growled, "The bastard!"

"That's not all," Shikaku said, impatiently. "Danzo's sealed the Yonbi into Orochimaru."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "But sealing a Bijuu into an adult is…"

"Dangerously unstable, yes. Which is why Danzo's using the Yonbi magatama to stabilize and control it."

"Shhhhhh—" Sakura cut the curse off with a huff of breath. Her eyes went east, where the rest of Genshi's line was still fighting.

"Understood." Itachi's voice had lost all warmth and was clipped and businesslike. He glanced at Sakura. "We'll have Katsuyu relay the warning to all of Genshi."

"I got it," said the slug from Sakura's shoulder. Itachi's gaze went back to Shikaku and Inoichi.

"We—Team Seven—will take care of Orochimaru. Danzo hasn't used him yet in the fight, but once he notices that you've joined us, he is sure to do so. Team Seven is the best equipped right now to handle a Jinchuuriki."

It was because they had Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Sakura knew, though Itachi didn't say it aloud. The Kyuubi was the most powerful of the Bijuu, and to a certain extent, the other Beasts feared it. The fear gave Naruto, as the Nine-tails' host, an advantage. Although, perhaps the magatama's influence would negate that. There were a lot of things they didn't know about the Bijuu.

Worry came back to churn in Sakura's gut. Would Genshi survive this? Now there was an added consequence to failure—with all of Genshi's Konoha sympathizers here now, if Danzo won, he _won_. There would be no others to take up the torch.

She shook her head and tried to focus only on the here-and-now. Her worry wouldn't help her fight. She tuned back into the fast-paced discussion going on around her.

"It would be best if we broke up into Teams and backed up the whole length of the front line—the injured and the commanders are behind the lines, I'm guessing?" Shikaku looked to Itachi for confirmation. The Uchiha nodded. "Right, then those are the orders. Inoichi, I'll leave the specifics of who and where up to you. Pass the orders along now."

Inoichi nodded, and turned away, calling for the attention of their reinforcements. Through the crowd, Ino caught Sakura's eye and flashed a handsign at her: _Be careful._

Sakura nodded, and then snapped her attention back to Itachi as he turned to her, Sasuke, and Naruto.

"We need to find and engage Orochimaru, before he and the Yonbi have the opportunity to do too much damage. Are we ready now?"

"Yes," Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura chorused. Itachi nodded.

"Let's go."

* * *

Orochimaru, or rather, the Yonbi, entered the battle before Team Seven could locate him. His appearance was heralded by an explosion that rocked the ground and shook leaves from the trees, and a roar that was more bestial than human.

"The hell—?" Naruto gasped, staggering a bit as the ground leaped under him. He recovered quickly, though, and glanced at Sakura, who was their communications link by virtue of the fact that Katsuyu was riding on her shoulder.

"He's in his three-tailed form!" gasped the slug. "Engaging Genshi's forces to the south-south-east! Gaara and his siblings are fighting… but Orochimaru is accompanied by a squad of Root elites. They need back-up."

"We're on our way," Sakura said, and called up to the others: "Orochimaru's contacted the line, south-south-east! Gaara's engaging!"

In response, they all veered left, and accelerated. A Bijuu by itself is not a good thing—look at what the Ichibi had done, those times when Gaara had lost control—but a Bijuu used as a war-machine… controlled by a ruthless and militant man…

_:I hope to all the merciful _kami _that Danzo only has the one Jinchuuriki…: _Genshi knew he had three other Bijuu, but perhaps he hadn't been able to seal them into hosts. Or perhaps he only had the Yonbi magatama right now, and would not risk using another Bijuu without some form of control over it. _:Please, please, please let that be the case.:_

Their arrival into the proximity of Orochimaru and Gaara's battle was marked by a sharp delineation in surroundings. One moment, they are rocketing through the trees, then next, they are alighting on broken, scoured, burnt ground. The Yonbi's elemental nature was one of fire and earth—lava. The evidence of this was obvious in the blackened ground, and the splattered arcs of molten rock, crusted with grey as they cooled.

As soon as they'd gotten a good look at the battle, Sasuke swore out loud. He had good reason—they weren't just up against a Yonbi-host Orochimaru and his elite Root escort; somehow, Danzo had figured out how to make Orochimaru, through his possession of the Yonbi magatama, summon his snakes. The giant purple Manda was lashing its tail and spitting venom at Genshi's soldiers beside the hulking form of the three-quarters-transformed Yonbi Jinchuuriki. It seemed that, even if its contractor wasn't _technically _'there', a summons called by a Jinchuuriki was still bound by its contract. So even though Orochimaru was less Orochimaru than he was Yonbi at this juncture, the snakes were bound to aid him.

Gaara seemed to be using his sand to simultaneously shield his allies and attack the Four-Tailed Demon Ape—which, having only three tails, was at this point not completely manifested and was composed only of solid chakra and bone spars instead of flesh. It was clear by the half-formed appearance of Gaara's sand defenses and weapons that he was stretching himself thin, multitasking like that.

Sakura sucked in a breath. _:Now would be a good time to_ _pull out all the stops.:_

She paused a breath, swiftly biting her thumb and rushing through the hand-seals so she could perform… "_Kuchiyose no jutsu!_"

The resultant _POP_ and appearance of the _ninken _made Naruto jump and yelp in surprise.

"What the hell! Sakura!" He stared at her in something like betrayal. "Kakashi gave you his contract? And you didn't _tell us_?"

Sakura shot him an incredulous look before returning her attention to the enemy. "It didn't exactly come up in conversation, and are you really asking me that _now_?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but Sakura shouted, "Look out!" And Team Seven jumped out of the way as one of the Yonbi's long tails lashed through the air like a whip and cracked the ground on which they'd just been standing. In mid-air, Sakura caught the accusative glare of Sasuke. Evidently, he, too, was annoyed that she hadn't shared the news.

"You idiots! LET IT GO FOR NOW!" she yelled at them as they landed and dodged another tail-whip.

"Sakura is right," Itachi said sharply, "Now is not the time!"

This was enough to get Sasuke to pay attention (though he did so with a frown that told Sakura she'd be answering some questions later), but Naruto huffed and looked mutinous. Itachi headed off any further argument by pointing out Gaara's plight. Reminded of his friend's danger, Naruto jerked around to jump to the Ichibi Jinchuuriki's aid.

"What, you didn't tell them?" Pakkun said, from his position at Sakura's side. The other dogs had fanned out to establish a perimeter around her. Sakura scowled at him.

"Not you, too," she growled. Pakkun barked a laugh; he'd been teasing. Sakura unbent a little, wrinkling her nose at him, and Pakkun sobered up.

"What's the situation?" he asked. Sakura lashed out a fist at a nearby Root—she missed, but the punch hit a fallen tree, which exploded into hail of wooden shrapnel. One spar got the Root in the calf, bringing him to a knee, at which point Akino and Urushi took him down all the way with judicious application of fangs to throat.

"Danzo's army marched on us," she told Pakkun, "He brought Orochimaru, whom he has turned into the Yonbi Jinchuuriki. Danzo's controlling the Yonbi—and Orochimaru—through the magatama. Some of our comrades who'd been left behind in Konoha have come to cast their lot with us."

"Danzo's here?" Pakkun wanted to know.

"We think so," Sakura replied grimly. They all wanted a piece of him; if Danzo showed his face, there'd be a line waiting to bloody it.

"Good," Pakkun said, and then went to join his fellow _ninken _in savaging a pair of Root shinobi. Sakura _shunshin_'d left to help one of Kankurou's puppets fight an enemy kunoichi who seemed particularly fond of fire _jutsu_.

She finally fell to a trap involving poison, _henge_, _genjutsu_, and an earth _jutsu_. Kankurou saluted Sakura, and turned to a new opponent, as she glanced around for her Teammates. Sasuke was fighting Manda along with Temari, Itachi was tearing up five Root agents, and Naruto was…

Naruto had released three tails, which waved over his back as semi-transparent red chakra. The Yonbi had focused all its attention on him, completely disregarding the normal ninja around it, and ignoring the lesser threat posed by the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, even as Gaara blasted it with his sand attacks.

As she watched, the Yonbi reared back, screamed at Naruto, and spat a gout of molten rock. The blond dodged, and an arm of malevolent red chakra grew and rose from his shoulder. The giant, clawed limb raked the Yonbi's face, opening wounds that hissed and bled—not so much blood, but some strange mix of blood, chakra, and lava—lightly before closing up. Of course—these were the regenerative abilities of a Jinchuuriki. As if this fight needed to be any harder, the nature of their opponent meant he had accelerated healing.

Enraged, the Yonbi pounded the ground with its three tails—the Ape had come a little further into their realm of existence, and now those tails were covered by a layer of pink muscle—and shattered the earth. The upheaval changed the terrain drastically, and injured or killed a couple ninja, both Root and Genshi. The majority, however, were able to avoid the quake by leaping into the air high above it.

Manda, the giant snake summon, could not jump, obviously. It let loose a hideous shrieking hiss, as a shifting slab of rocky earth gouged a deep cut into its body. Hot blood splashed on the ground, and the snake writhed in agony. It gave Sasuke and Temari the opening they needed. Temari used her war-fan to send a wind-element jutsu at Manda, opening dozens of cuts all along the snake's body, blinding it with pain. Sasuke exhaled a giant fireball—his family's trademark _Goukakyuu no jutsu_. Manda shrieked again, as it was covered in flames, but its writhing and screaming soon abated, and all that was left was a blackened husk. Temari and Sasuke went to join the fight against the Yonbi.

Sakura watched this from the corner of her eye, as she crossed kunai with a Root kunoichi. It was dangerous to divide her attention unnecessarily like that, but Pakkun and the other dogs were harrying the enemy kunoichi as well, so Sakura felt safe enough to keep half an eye on her Teammates.

Bisuke yelped as a shuriken from the enemy nicked his shoulder. For a moment, Sakura's attention slipped away from Sasuke, Temari, Naruto, and Gaara, and locked completely on her opponent.

She clashed with the enemy again, their kunai screeching together. The Root smirked, her free hand going into a seal…

In a move inspired by Naruto's attack on the Yonbi, Sakura brought chakra to her own free hand, formed it into razor-sharp chakra scalpels, and raked her hand claw-like across the kunoichi's upper chest and throat. Blood fountained, and a gurgle announced that Sakura'd hit the Root's trachea, and the enemy collapsed with her kunai dropping from lifeless fingers.

Sakura turned to the nin-dogs, and found Bisuke with her eyes. "Are you alright? Come here, I'll heal that cut."

The dog wiggled his way through the others, who stood at attention guarding them as Sakura swept a green-glowing hand over the slice in Bisuke's shoulder. Once it was closed up, she straightened and glanced toward her Teammates.

Itachi was holding Orochimaru's remaining guard complement back from joining the Yonbi fight. Kankurou was helping him. Naruto, Sasuke, Temari, and Gaara were still trying to bring down the Four-tailed Ape. The muscle that had stretched itself over the chakra-and-bone frame shifted with the Beast's movements, parting here and there to reveal the burning, red chakra beneath, like the crust over lava.

Sakura was taking a breath to _shunshin _in to help when she saw a flicker of movement to one side… a blur in the air, streaking outward… Something in her urged her to look at her Teammates…

Naruto, though his back was turned in the direction of the movement, somehow sensed the incoming projectile, and dodged in a sleek, fluid twist. He didn't even break off his attack on the Yonbi. The missile missed, by quite a margin.

But a split second later, Sakura thought that maybe Naruto hadn't been the target of the weapon, because the shuriken lodged itself in Sasuke's side, knocking him off his feet and into Gaara, who caught him with a cushion of sand.

Sakura's mouth opened and an involuntary shriek erupted from her throat. "_SASUKE!_"

It seemed like the instant Sasuke had been hit, Itachi had flashed toward the origin of the shuriken. Sakura herself _shunshin_'d to Sasuke, as Gaara set him gently down on the ground. The tightness in her throat lessened as she saw that Sasuke was conscious, though grimacing in pain.

She reached his side at the same time as Kankurou. Both reached for their medic packs—though his was the small, basic kit that all ninja carried with them regardless of training.

"I'm fine," Sasuke growled, pulling out the shuriken. Sakura wanted to hit him over the head.

"Don't pull it out before I've checked it! You could hurt yourself more!"

"Sakura, I'm fine. Go and help my brother!"

"Your brother's not injured, you are, and I'm a medic-nin. Now shut up and let me see—"

"Sakura-chan," Shiba yelped, as the other dogs started up a low growl, "It's Danzo! Itachi-san is fighting Danzo!"

Sakura's hand clenched on the roll of bandage she was holding. Her eyes went to meet Sasuke's. He met them evenly.

"Sakura, _go_—"

"I got it," she interrupted. She stood and turned to Kankurou, handed him the bandages. "I trust you can dress wounds. If it's beyond your skill, take him to Tsunade-shishou!"

Then, with one more glance at Naruto—he and Gaara and Temari were holding their own—she rushed after Itachi.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

_**Fuuma Shuriken**_**—**wind demon shuriken. A very large, 4-bladed 'throwing star'.

_**Tekko**_**—**armguards.

_**Conch-shell horn—**_a horn made out of a conch shell, pretty much. Samurai actually DID use these, back in the day, as war horns.

_**Goukakyuu no jutsu—**_the grand fireball technique, I think, in English. It's that jutsu that, in the canon, Sasuke's father taught him at the lake.


	15. Confrontation

_TH: Oooookay. So this'll be the second to last chapter in Shades! Yep, we're almost at the end here. And because I'm such a nice author, I didn't split this chapter into two. So enjoy the nice, long battle. Please review!_

_Thanks to MakalaMea, as always, for betaing!

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_

**Chapter Fifteen— Confrontation

* * *

**

_**Three Years Ago**_

_They wondered, briefly, why the other Elemental Countries had not made any effort to ally. Why they had not presented a united front against Danzo and Akatsuki. But as Danzo's plan became clearer, so too did the reason for this._

_ Danzo had invested much effort, and many of his ANBU Root's lives, into undermining the relationships between all the Hidden Villages. So that, when the time came, they would be fractured, unwilling to work together, eager to see their enemies fall and confident in their own abilities to withstand Danzo's Konoha._

_ Already locked in cold wars and political silences with the other Countries, the Daimyo and Hidden Villages could not, then, turn to each other for aid when Danzo's army came knocking. The defending armies fell, alone, one-by-one._

_ Simple tactics: Divide and conquer.

* * *

_

**Present**

Danzo was standing at the treeline of the Yonbi-created clearing, looking just as Sakura remembered—tall, with a face seamed by wrinkles and scars, bandages swathing great portions of his body. Including, Sakura noted sharply, his right eye.

_'Danzo has the Sharingan,' _Kakashi had said. Since nobody had noticed before that, it must be his right eye that he'd stolen from an Uchiha and then hidden behind his bandages.

_:Whose eye, I wonder,: _Sakura thought briefly.

Ahead of her, Itachi had stopped in his headlong dash, his violent lunge toward Danzo arrested by the two Root bodyguards that stepped in front of their leader. Behind them, Danzo had another shuriken in his hand, which he sent winging toward Itachi with a deft flick of his wrist.

The Uchiha caught the weapon in a move too fast for Sakura to follow, but she saw, when his hand returned to his side, that he'd caught it closed-fisted, careless of the sharp edges. As she pulled up to a stop a little behind him, she saw his grip tighten until blood welled and dripped from his fist.

He didn't turn to away from Danzo, but he said, "Sakura-san. Go tend to my brother."

She glanced at him, then fixed her gaze on Danzo and his bodyguards. Around her feet, the _ninken_ stalked, growling and fixing glares on Danzo. She told Itachi with commendable calmness, "Actually, Sasuke sent me after you."

Itachi was silent a moment, but then said, simply, "Hm."

_:Is that an 'alright, then, stay here' or a 'don't care, go back'?: _ It was so typical of an Uchiha to be so verbally ambiguous. _:Well, he didn't order me outright to leave, so I'm staying.:_

In any case, this was where Sakura would be needed most. Naruto, Sasuke, and the Sand siblings had the Yonbi well in hand, she figured. Well enough that her presence wouldn't be that much of a help. But Itachi was going against Danzo and those two Root alone. Certainly Sakura could be of some use here. Maybe distracting the bodyguards…

"Uchiha Itachi," Danzo said. He looked… almost… satisfied? From the corner of her eye, Sakura saw the muscles of Itachi's arm flex, and the blood dripped from his hand faster.

"Danzo," he said, the raw hatred in his voice a match for the killer intent that sprang up between them. The satisfied look on Danzo's face increased, and Sakura wondered why he looked so damned pleased with himself and with… Itachi?

"Torune, Fuu," Danzo ordered. "Eliminate the girl… and the dogs."

Sakura tensed, eyes narrowing and spurt of rage kindling warmth in her blood. The sneer with which he'd said 'dogs' made it clear he recognized the _ninken _and knew whose they had been.

The two Root agents blocking Itachi and Sakura from Danzo shifted from their defensive positions into prepared stances, ready to go on the offensive at a moment's notice.

Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fuu… Sai had given, to the best of his ability, Genshi information on Root. The only things he could say about these two were their names and that they were two of the highest ranking Root. The secrecy seal tattooed on Sai's tongue forbid him from saying more.

Still, it was enough to allow Sakura to draw some conclusions about the two enemies. Even if they had renounced their Clans in order to join Root, that didn't mean they didn't have certain traits and abilities specific of those families. Aburame Torune would likely still possess at least one colony of the specialized bugs that were that Clan's closely guarded secret. Just as Yamanaka Fuu probably was able to use his Clan's mind-body jutsu.

Well. Sakura had her own abilities. And probably more motivation to win.

She unsheathed her _ninjato _with a smooth motion and a soft _shush_.

"Sakura-san," Itachi started. There was a question in his tone.

"Right," she said. "Pakkun, you and another dog will go with Itachi-san to back him up."

"Understood," growled Pakkun. "Guruko. Let's go."

The two dogs slunk to Itachi's side, their hackles raised, bodies moving in a very clearly predatory manner. Revenge for their fallen contractor and friend was within fang's reach, and they wanted to tear in.

There was a beat of stillness that was only broken by the shrieks and shouts of the war around them, and the roar of the Yonbi behind them, and then…

Torune and Fuu _shunshin_'d forward, past Itachi and toward Sakura. At the same time they moved, so did Itachi, using _shunshin _to zip toward Danzo. They passed each other along the way, and in that split second when they were all next to each other, Itachi between the two Root, the Uchiha twisted in a tight spin, one arm lashing out. There was a glint of steel in that hand, arching toward Fuu… the Yamanaka pushed off one foot and Itachi's kunai passed harmlessly by his shoulder… then around to sweep at Torune. The Aburame was a touch slower than his comrade—the kunai parted sleeve and skin, and fresh, bright blood spilled down Torune's arm. The Root hissed, jerking away, but both of their momentums had carried them out of range of each other. Itachi continued on to Danzo without a backward glance, and Torune hurtled toward Sakura.

Her eyes narrowed. She wasn't angry at Itachi for handicapping one of her opponents—she knew Itachi didn't see her as needing the help, exactly. It was probably more that the chance was there right before him and he saw no real reason to pass it up. In any case, one of Sakura's opponents was now fighting injured, with the blood on his arm making it look as if he wore a crimson glove from the elbow down. Maybe she'd be able to use that to her advantage.

The faster she got rid of Fuu and Torune, the sooner she could go help Itachi take down Danzo.

Fuu stopped a couple yards away from Sakura, and started going through some handseals while Torune closed with her. It seemed the Yamanaka was the long-distance half of the duo, while the Aburame was the melee fighter.

Sakura whipped out her _ninjato _and three ringing crashes bounced of the trees around them as she parried the swift strikes of the kunai that Torune held in his good hand. He was good, she had to give him that. Even injured, he kept her hard-pressed to deflect all his attacks. And he had Fuu backing him up…

The jutsu Fuu had been weaving erupted from the ground—a dragon-shaped arrow of earth shot toward Sakura, its jaws opening to reveal rows of sharp stone teeth. Sakura had been keeping an eye on the Yamanaka, so was able to dodge it in time. She sheathed her _ninjato _as she jumped straight up, into the branches of a tree on her left. Torune followed her easily, still harrying her with his kunai and ever so often a lightning-fast _taijutsu _strike. One elbow jab almost took her in the face, but she ducked just in time, flipping over backward and using chakra to stick to the underside of the branch she was standing on.

Still aware of where Fuu was, she released the chakra and flipped back down to the ground, hitting the ground running. If she could reach and attack Fuu without Torune catching up and intercepting, maybe she could level the playing field a little more. After all, Yamanaka were often used solely as distance fighters—perhaps Fuu wasn't as trained in hand-to-hand as Torune or Sakura. Maybe she could take him out and then concentrate on Torune. Her _ninken _were already picking at Fuu's defenses, but he appeared to be using some _bunshin _to hold them off. If she could battering-ram her way through his defense…

Her escape from the earth-dragon jutsu had carried her closer to Danzo and Itachi's fight. She'd been somewhat preoccupied by her own fight, so she didn't know how Itachi was doing, but as she flipped down from the tree, she caught a stray snippet of their voices.

"Did you poison the Sandaime?" Itachi's voice. Sakura nearly landed on her head in surprise, but twisted herself right-side up just in time.

"You never did trust me, did you? How unfortunate that you were out-of-Village while Sarutobi died," Danzo said, which was enough of an answer. Sakura nearly tripped.

_:Sandaime's death was Danzo's fault?: _she thought in shock. But she didn't have time to ponder the possibility, because Torune cut between her and Fuu, sending her dancing away as a handful of shuriken thudded into the ground right before her. As she evaded Torune's attack, she glanced toward Itachi.

The Uchiha was standing upright, breathing lightly, facing down Danzo with a dark look. He was uninjured as yet, but Danzo was also similarly untouched. Theirs would be a long-lasting fight, only ending when one of them got tired enough to start making mistakes.

Sakura was jerked back to her battle as Bisuke yelped, and disappeared in a puff of vapor—if a summon ran out chakra, they were sent back to the summons' realm where they lived. It seemed Bisuke had ran himself too ragged, probably tiring himself out compensating for his injured shoulder. Beside him, Shiba was startled by his comrade's sudden disappearance for a split second… but that brief lapse was enough for Fuu's _bunshin_ to launch a kunai straight toward the dog's throat.

Sakura saw it, saw that it would be a fatal blow, and hurriedly mashed her hands together in the seal that would release the summon and send Shiba back to the summons' realm, and out of harms way.

There was a way to send specific dogs back after summoning them as a pack, but Sakura hadn't had enough practice, and was in a rush. Shiba disappeared, saving his life, but along with him, Urushi and Akino also vanished. Sakura was down to four dogs, and two of them were with Itachi.

She took a deep breath, pausing momentarily on a tree branch above Torune's head, and pushed back her reaction to the sudden decrease in her support. At least they weren't dead… Let it go. Let it go, and fight _smart._

Torune dodged her flying kick, and batted away the wood splinters that exploded into the air when the kick shattered a tree branch, spinning around to keep her in his sight as she vaulted over him. He watched as she landed and fell instantly into a ready stance.

Then with slow deliberation, he pulled off the gloves that covered his hands. Sakura noted the significance of the action—all of Torune's skin was covered by cloth, except for a patch around his mouth. Clearly there was a reason, and if he was taking off his gloves during their fight, Sakura suspected that it meant he had some ability or jutsu that involved touch, or the contact of his skin with either air or his opponent.

As a medic-nin, Sakura was very well versed in the uses and function of contact poisons. Perhaps Torune utilized something like that… She'd have to take care, now that he was pulling this unknown ability out.

He _shunshin_'d forward, and Sakura dropped and lashed out with a foot, heel-first. Torune jumped over her counter, flipping over her and reaching out a bare hand in a knife-chop aimed for her neck. She dropped all the way to the ground and rolled out of the way, and felt his flight ruffle her hair.

She came up on the balls of her feet and nimbly dodged the rock spears that sprang from the ground from another of Fuu's Earth jutsu. She cursed aloud as she heard two yelps and felt the recoil as her last two _ninken _were forcefully dismissed back to the summons' realm. It was just her now.

Sakura ran at the rock spears, jumped up and kicked off them. Stone shattered underfoot as she used chakra to power her jumps to send her high into the sky. She hung in the air briefly, body turning almost lazily…

The wind whistled in her ears as she shot toward the ground in a carefully controlled dive, chakra gathering in her fist for an earth-shattering punch. The impact was thunderous, and dust was thrown in the air, obscuring Fuu's view of her and Torune momentarily.

Sakura sprang toward Torune, a kunai in each hand. The blades blurred as she pelted him with swift, precise blows. His injured arm was slow, and she managed to score a line on his wrist. But his other hand twisted, like a snake, and jabbed forward.

The heel of his palm hit her sternum and knocked her back. She huffed out the air that was in her lungs, and then gasped.

_:Contact poison?: _she thought, as a sharp burning pain spread through her chest from the contact point. Torune stood ready, watching her as she stumbled back a few paces. Sakura fought to keep her stance, but the pain was intense.

"Torune!" Fuu's voice caused Torune to wheel out of the way, and Sakura saw that the Yamanaka was standing behind the Aburame, with a direct line-of-sight with Sakura, and his hands in a familiar…

_Sakura blinked as she suddenly found herself in darkness. Confusion lasted a breath—_Am I dead?—_and then she realized the truth. She'd experienced this before, she thought, before the Fall of Konoha, when Team Seven and Team Ten had a joint sparring session. Sakura had faced Ino that day, and had learned what, exactly, the Yamanaka Clan's special technique was._

_ Now Sakura could sense Yamanaka Fuu's mind lurking in her body, keeping it immobile. It was probable that he would hold her still for Torune to deliver a killing blow, transferring back to his own body just at the last second._

_ Unfortunately for Fuu, that day sparring with Ino had also allowed Sakura to discover her own ability… the ability to resist the Yamanaka's Mind-Body Switch._

_ Inner Sakura, the volatile inner-persona that Sakura had cultivated at a very young age in order to help her keep her stronger emotions in-check, manifested in Sakura's mind-space, forcing Fuu's mind to manifest there as well. The Yamanaka looked shocked to find himself faced with a black-and-white version of his victim… A version that looked very upset that he was intruding on her space. _

"Say goodbye!"_ Inner Sakura grinned toothily at Fuu, seized him in an inescapable grip, and hurled him out of Sakura's mind. _"SHANNARO!"

Sakura's vision cleared, and she was in immediate motion, ignoring the agony in her body from whatever Torune had done to her. She whipped her _ninjato _from its sheath on her back faster than a blink, and rammed it through Torune's chest even as he reached toward her with his own blade.

He hadn't expected her to shake off Fuu's Mind-Body Switch so easily, nor so fast. He hadn't completed the heart-thrust that would have ended her life when she forced Fuu out of her mind and regained control of her own body. His underestimation of her abilities had led to his death. Instead of her ending up with a knife in her heart, he was the one left gasping as life abruptly fled his body.

His corpse fell heavily, taking Sakura's _ninjato _with him as her pain-weakened hand couldn't maintain its grip. She swayed dangerously, vision washing white before clearing. She knew she still had Fuu to contend with, but her whole body was screaming with pain now. Whatever Torune had done to her with his palm-strike, it had been effective. She could barely stand.

She forced her head up, straining to see where Fuu was, and what he was doing…

A canine snarl and a sharp cry made her jerk around, and though the quick motion made her head spin, she could see easily what had happened.

Pakkun and Guruko stood over Fuu's crumpled form, their jaws painted with blood. Their hackles were still raised, but the Root wasn't moving. They turned, dismissing the clearly dead enemy and running toward their contractor.

"Sakura-chan," Pakkun said in concern, eyeing her.

"What about Itachi?" she asked, words slurring slightly.

"We sensed the others leaving, and came to help you," Guruko said, not quite answering the question. Sakura supposed that either way, she was grateful. The dogs had probably saved her life… if, of course, she didn't die from this poison.

"Guard," she gasped, half-falling against a tree. Trusting the dogs would do as she asked, she turned her focus inward. She'd have to be quick; Torune's poison seemed to work fast.

Or… not poison. Upon closer examination, Sakura found the damages wreaked upon her body to be from very, very small insects. An Aburame's _kikaichuu_.

Thankfully, with Torune's death, the bugs had been killed, the chakra that had given them their strength snatched away. What Sakura had to do now was heal the damage they and their venom had done.

Easier said than done.

She went to work immediately, ruthlessly pushing her pain to the fringes of her perception.

But she'd been trained as a ninja from a young age, and most of that with the intent of eventually seeing battle, a battle that her teachers had known would be unbalanced. Sakura's training had been about surviving a fight where she was outnumbered—one of the things that meant was that she was trained to remain aware of her surroundings, even while in a healing trance. She couldn't afford to be inattentive.

So she could hear perfectly when Itachi and Danzo—whose fight was still going strong—spoke, their voices filtering through the sound of jutsu and weapons clashing: Itachi's cold with contained fury, Danzo's arrogant with taunting.

"Don't try to turn my own Clan's _kekkei genkai _against me," Itachi was saying. "It will not work."

"So Kakashi managed to reveal my little secret before he died," Danzo said. "I suppose these bandages are unnecessary, then."

A ripping sound, and a pause, followed by:

"_Where did you get those eyes?" _Itachi sounded angrier than Sakura had ever heard. His tone chilled the blood.

_:Eyes? As in, more than one? Multiple Sharingan?: _She couldn't see, but the implications of the words seemed obvious. Kakashi hadn't been wrong—Danzo did have the Sharingan… but he had more than one, something that Kakashi either hadn't known or hadn't been able to tell them before he died.

"Here and there," Danzo responded dismissively to Itachi's question. There was the distinctive sound of a sudden flare of fire—the _fwoosh _of a missile _Katon_—and then Danzo spoke again:"Does it make you angry?"

Itachi was silent.

"Does it make you angry?" Danzo asked again. "That you couldn't prevent this all from happening? Even with what you knew?"

"When did you learn?" Itachi asked. Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something in this conversation. Some vital piece of what they were talking about.

The sound of metal-on-metal, and then a flurry of cawing crows: Itachi's signature _genjutsu_.

Sakura worked still to heal herself, feeling her blood and chakra leak away due to the wounds. Her heart was fluttering erratically. She couldn't release her healing trance, or she'd die, but she couldn't help but wish she could open her eyes and watch the battle.

"Clearly you found the scroll," Itachi's voice continued. "But did you suspect before that?"

"You were always a thorn in my side," Danzo said, with remembered annoyance. "When I became Hokage, I searched for every scroll, classified and not, referenced to your name. I wanted to learn your weaknesses. I wanted to learn how to control you. Imagine my surprise… when I found one written and signed by the Torture and Interrogation Force…"

There was the sound of swift movement, and Sakura heard blood splatter—a lot of it. She tensed. _:Someone was injured! Danzo, or Itachi?:_

Low laughter. Danzo. "You will have to try harder than that, Itachi-kun."

"A jutsu to make reality an illusion…" Itachi said slowly, thoughtfully.

"Perceptive as ever," Danzo said. "_Izanagi_. What becomes possible when one possesses the heritage of both Senju and Uchiha…"

"A stolen heritage."

More sounds of combat, and the sound of another injury. Inside her trance, Sakura was wound tight with the need to know what was happening. What was _Izanagi_? Who had been injured before? It had sounded like a bad injury, but neither of their voices or words hinted at an injury after that… But now she heard Itachi panting lightly.

"Perhaps I was not born with the ability… but it is mine now," Danzo said.

Itachi controlled his breathing. "Maybe so… but it does not come without a price, does it?"

"Ksh," Danzo tsked, sounding displeased.

"One use… for one Sharingan. How many do you have left?" Itachi asked, pointedly. Danzo didn't answer, so Itachi did for him: "One more in your arm… and then your right eye…"

"You are presumptuous," Danzo snapped. "A consequence of your situation, I think. You think you know the future, so you think you know all."

_:What?:_

"But you didn't expect this, did you? In your future, I was just an old man, a relic of a past era. But not this time. You opened my eyes, Uchiha. I found out your secret, all right," Danzo's voice had changed. Before it had been confident, measured. But now, he sounded almost… deranged. "Thrust back in time, given a second chance. You saved a few lives, made sure the Uchiha lived. Killed Madara… You thought you could save the world, is that it? Your weak ideals couldn't save anything. But I have almost united the Elemental Countries! It is might, not mercy, that will bring peace!"

_:Thrust back in… What is he talking about?: _Badly confused, Sakura fumbled her healing trance, then hurriedly composed herself, picking back up the threads of the healing. But she was still not sure what Danzo was talking about. It almost sounded like he was implying that Itachi… No, that was ridiculous… Wasn't it?

"You were so helpful, telling the Sandaime what happened in that other time…" Danzo's sarcasm was biting. "Right down to the names of the _nukenin _who composed Akatsuki, and their weaknesses. Right down to Orochimaru and the details of his work."

_:Itachi knew about the Akatsuki before?:_

"You used the information in that scroll to work against Konoha," Itachi said.

"Against Konoha? No." Danzo sounded mildly insulted at the accusation, which was maddening. He _was _a traitor, no matter what delusions he held about it. "Everything I have done has been for the village. I bound the Akatsuki to our cause, so they would not oppose us."

"Do you think they will not turn against you?"

"Oh? You haven't figured it out, then." Danzo was smug. "Do you know what their agreements with me were?"

An explosion interrupted the conversation for a little while, and there was a deluge of noises that suggested some fierce fighting. Finally, there was another lull.

"The Eternal Mangekyo does not help with extending one's chakra reserves, does it?" Danzo asked then, as Itachi hissed briefly in pain. The Uchiha rallied quickly.

"You give each Akatsuki member a country to rule," he answered Danzo's earlier question. "But that gives them access to resources for betrayal."

"Not just the country," Danzo said. He seemed all too willing to reveal his plans to Itachi… Was he gloating? It didn't seem in character for what Sakura knew of Danzo. But then, she hadn't expected Shimura "For-the-Good-of-the-Village" Danzo to poison the Sandaime, either, and he had pretty much admitted to that.

"The Bijuu," Itachi said, as if just realizing it. Danzo chuckled.

"Yes. Each and every one of them wanted to be _stronger_. I told them I knew how to seal a Bijuu safely into an adult host. They agreed to back me if they received a country and a Bijuu each." Danzo paused. "But I had the final check against them. They received the Bijuu, yes. But they didn't know that I was gathering the magatama that would allow me to control them. If they ever tried to turn against me… they wouldn't be able to."

"But you've tipped your hand here, bringing Orochimaru," Itachi said.

_:Is… it Itachi leading Danzo?: _ It seemed like Itachi was acting more obtuse than he actually was. Sakura wondered if he was fishing for something.

"Don't act so stupid, Itachi," Danzo said, apparently coming to the same conclusion. "It insults my own intelligence as well."

"Fine," Itachi said easily. "Then let me tell you what I think.

"You have always had aspirations to rule; you wished to take the Sandaime position but your peer Sarutobi Hiruzen was elected instead. You bided your time, weakened his power subtly by influencing the Council, by creating Root. Slowly, you began amassing your own power. But it was never enough. The desire for more grew.

"I think that your desire to obtain the Sharingan started then, when you saw time and again the abilities it gave the Uchiha, the influence it lent them in the eyes of the Village and of the ninja world. You started watching the Clan, waiting for your chance. And while you watched you saw something interesting. The stirrings of dissent. You watched as the seed of the coup was sown, and watched as it grew. And then you tried to sneak your hand into the events that were unfolding. You asked me to assassinate my family. You thought you could hit two birds with one stone—eliminate the threat to Konoha, and acquire the Sharingan. After all, with all the Clan gone, and with myself exiled as the scapegoat, who would be left to monitor the destruction of all the Uchiha corpses? Who would care enough to make sure that all those Sharingan eyes were destroyed?

"But it didn't work out as you wanted, did it? Because of me. Instead of your pick of however many Sharingan you wished, you were forced to sneak past the surviving Uchiha, forced to take risks, and for all of that you acquired only three Sharingan. How many uses of _Izanagi _does that translate to?"

There was a rush, and a great explosion, and then Danzo hissed: "_Susanoo. _Damn you!"

"Does it make you angry?" Itachi mockingly threw back Danzo's own words at him. "That I can read you so easily? What I say is true, is it not? You became obsessed with me after I thwarted you. You knew I would be a stumbling block for your pursuit of power."

"A weak obstacle at best. I _have_ power," Danzo sneered.

"A tenuous power," Itachi said dismissively. "As long as Genshi exists, you will never have complete control of Konoha. That is why you are here. That is why you risked bringing Orochimaru—you wanted to be thorough. But you did not want your other Akatsuki allies to know of the truth of the Bijuu and the magatama, so you came with only your personal army, your Root. You cannot call in reinforcements from your allies, because then your game would be over."

The sound of another spate of fighting. Sakura thought that maybe Danzo was becoming worried by what Itachi was saying, angered by the way the Uchiha prodigy was dissecting his actions.

_"Tsukuyomi," _Itachi said, and then there was a brief moment of silence before Danzo broke out of the ultimate _genjutsu_, coughing wetly. Sakura suspected he was coughing blood—what she'd seen of Itachi's _Tsukuyomi _had illustrated the ruthless nature of the jutsu. Coughing blood because of it wouldn't be surprising. What was mildly surprising was that Danzo broke free of the Mangekyo Sharingan jutsu. But he did have his own stolen Sharingan, so maybe those helped him resist. Or perhaps, Sakura thought, Itachi had allowed Danzo to break _Tsukuyomi _because he wasn't finished with the older shinobi. He seemed to have more to say to Danzo, at any rate.

"You wanted Konoha to be powerful, and believed you saw the path to that power. You wanted to protect Konoha from the threat of defeat and of weakness. But in doing so, you have shattered all that Konoha was, all that it stood for. You allied her with her enemies, making agreements you poisoned with half-truths and the intent to betray. You drove out dozens of Konoha's most loyal ninja, because their views were not your own. You made Konoha that which the Village has always reviled—a military state, uncompromising, too easy to condemn her own citizens."

"Your understanding has a decidedly soft slant to it," Danzo said. "I 'destroyed' Konoha you say… But Konoha stands, despite you fools' attempts to the contrary. You would scrape and grovel at the feet of other countries, pandering to their demands and whims, always trying to _appease_. I have extended Konoha's rule, made it an empire!"

"The first four Hokage all spoke of something they called the Will of Fire. It is something that you have always demeaned. However…" Itachi's voice deepened, and strengthened. "However, it is what truly stands at the heart of Konoha. Your attempts at stamping it out are in fact attempts at smothering the spirit of Konoha itself. Therefore. Shimura Danzo. In the name of the _true _Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade, I, Uchiha Itachi, charge you with treason and sentence you to death."

His speech was cold and precise, and the words sent a little thrill up Sakura's spine. She pushed her healing harder, feeling the end of the battle drawing nearer. Itachi had pronounced Danzo's death… and he would not tarry in delivering it.

_"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" _Danzo said, and there was a loud _BANG _of displaced air, followed by the bellow of what sounded like a large creature. The ground shook underfoot as the summon—whatever it was—stamped.

Sakura knitted her cells together faster. If she just stopped the degradation, and healed enough to keep her blood where it was supposed to be... the rest could wait. She didn't need to be fully healed.

"_Fuuton: Shinkuu Renpa!" _Danzo said, and there was suddenly the roar of wind, and a strong suction that pulled at Sakura's body where she leaned against a tree, in her healing trance.

_"Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" _Itachi's voice rapped out. There was a thunderclap sound of suddenly ignited flame, which grew to drown out the wind's noise with its own roar.

_:Good enough!: _Sakura thought, sending out one more pulse of chakra through her body. She peeled back the layers of her trance, and opened her eyes…

Itachi faced down a giant beast—a Baku, or nightmare eater—and Danzo. Sakura gasped, seeing the tail-end of a very swift exchange of _ninjutsu. _Danzo had summoned the Baku, to use its lung capacity and suction ability to augment his own Wind techniques.

A poor choice against a Fire-natured Uchiha. Itachi had apparently used his speed and precision to send a raging _Katon _directly down the Baku's throat just as it inhaled. The mix of the stream of air and the fire resulted in a magnificent conflagration that Sakura could still see burned into her retinas… a conflagration that had also apparently ravaged the sensitive flesh of the Baku's lungs. It let out an animal shriek of agony… and air rushed in to fill the space it vacated as it vanished back wherever Danzo had summoned it from.

Even as the summon disappeared, Danzo and Itachi were crossing blades. There was a _kaching-ching-ching _of a series of very quick attacks and parries, but then a huge orange-y red shield of chakra pulsed to life around Itachi, forcing Danzo back a step. From within the shield—_Susanoo_—Itachi closed his right eye, then opened it.

"_Amaterasu!_"

Black flames leapt into being… on a tree beside Danzo, who had juked to the side to avoid the focus of Itachi's attack. He was unharmed by the flames, but the attack was nevertheless enough to put the older shinobi on the defensive. Itachi charged forward with lethal intent.

Sakura gaped, unable to follow the speed with which Itachi moved. There was only a flicker, and then Itachi was crouched behind Danzo, who seemed to have grown a sword through his chest. Sakura's mind had only just registered the fact that the blow was a fatal one when Danzo's body seemed to sag and fade, until there was no sign he had stood there at all.

A perfectly untouched Danzo had appeared in front of Itachi. The Uchiha stood fluidly, as Sakura blinked in confusion. That hadn't seemed like a _bunshin_, or a _kawarimi_… And she had been trained to detect _genjutsu_…

"_Izanagi_," Itachi said quietly. "A second use. And a second of your Sharingan blinded, useless. Now you have one left."

_:So that is what _Izanagi _is,: _Sakura thought. _:It makes sense now… Danzo's _Izanagi _takes reality and makes it illusion. He should have died with that hit, but he just made that death illusion…:_

She panted a little, still feeling weak from her injury, and also from moderate chakra exhaustion, the cost of healing herself. She leaned heavily against the tree, watching the battle, unable to help.

Itachi seemed slightly winded, and there was blood on his face and body. Danzo might have the ability to make his wounds illusion, but Itachi did not. And if she understood correctly, Danzo still had another use of _Izanagi_. The old shinobi might be able to outlast Itachi…

"P-pakkun. Guruko," she said. She gestured for them to go to the Uchiha.

"No," Pakkun said, shaking his head. "Watch."

But, she wanted to protest. Itachi's injured. And didn't you want to avenge Kakashi-sensei?

But it didn't seem as if Itachi thought he needed the help because he faced Danzo confidently, eyes sharp, stance unwavering.

Danzo bent double, clutching his right shoulder and crying out suddenly. The skin of his shoulder seemed to writhe… and then erupted into a great, branching tree limb. Sakura's eyes widened. _:Mokuton?:_

"You must be running low on chakra. It's becoming difficult for you to control the Shodai's cells, isn't it?" Itachi observed.

"_Graahh!" _Fighting the swiftly growing tree rooted in his right arm, Danzo lifted a kunai high, and brought it down on his own shoulder. With a crack like snapping wood, his right arm separated from his body.

"Don't be so hasty, foolish boy!" Danzo snarled at Itachi. "As you said, I still have one eye left!"

Itachi didn't react to the insult, or the boast. Instead, he, almost lazily, lifted one hand, his fore- and middle-fingers extended.

"_Kai_," he said.

Danzo's eyes widened, and he quickly scanned around to see what illusion Itachi had released.

In doing so, he took his attention off of Itachi for a split second…

…But that was all the Uchiha needed.

Itachi _shunshin_'d in close to Danzo even as Sakura blinked in confusion, looking, like Danzo, around for the broken _genjutsu_.

Danzo screamed, high and painfully, as Itachi's kunai pierced his stolen Sharingan eye—his last, the one he'd implanted in his right eyesocket.

"_DIE_," Itachi said, and shoved the kunai in further, into Danzo's brain. The false Godaime Hokage collapsed limply.

Sakura gaped, unprepared for this sudden end. Itachi had not only killed Danzo with that knife-thrust, he had also ensured that Danzo's last Sharingan could not be used for _Izanagi_. This was one death Danzo would not escape.

With a calmness Sakura could not tell was feigned or real, Itachi set the corpse ablaze with _Amaterasu_, and then turned away. Face composed, he looked at her.

She stared back, face white, eyes wide, half-collapsed against a tree. He jumped nimbly to her side, apparently ignoring the wounds that peppered his body.

Out of everything she could say to him—_good job! Congratulations! Are you injured?_—what she blurted was, "What _genjutsu _did you release?"

He paused, and looked briefly darkly amused, and said, "I was bluffing."

Sakura's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "Oh."

Then, gathering her scattered wits, "Are you alright?"

He eyed her. "We could both use the healers."

"Good idea," she said weakly. And then she fainted.

* * *

**DICTIONARY**

_**Izanagi—**_Danzo's ability, made possible because he has stolen Uchiha Sharingan and stolen Senju Hashirama cells. It allows the user to control reality for a brief moment, but the cost is that one of his Sharigan close forever.

_**Fuuton: Shinkuu Renpa—**_Wind release: Vacuum Serial Waves. Sends out several blades of wind a different angles. Its power is increased when used in conjunction with extreme suction.

_**Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu—**_Fire release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. Actually only seen used by Sasuke, as a prep for his Kirin attack. But I figured in my story, my timeline, Itachi would know it too.

_**Mokuton—**_wood element release. The Shodai Hokage's special skill, which Yamato/Tenzo (thanks to Orochimaru's experiments) can use. Danzo, who implanted his arm with Hashirama's cells, could thus also use it.

_**Kai—**_release_. _Disrupts/breaks a _genjutsu_.


	16. Closure

**SHADES

* * *

**

**Chapter Sixteen—Closure

* * *

**

In hindsight, Sakura supposed she was lucky she maintained consciousness long enough to witness Danzo's death. She'd worked herself to a near-dangerous level of chakra exhaustion, and even still, she hadn't completely healed the damage from Torune's destructive bugs.

Tsunade said Itachi had carried her—with the help of Pakkun and Guruko, since he was also injured himself—to the backlines, where Tsunade and Shizune had set up the emergency medical facilities.

Tsunade also said that Sakura hadn't missed much in her period of unconsciousness. Itachi had finally defeated Danzo in the ending phases of the war. Naruto, Sasuke, and the Sand Siblings had already brought down the Yonbi—and Orochimaru, though the slippery _nukenin _had tried to slither away in his snake-like meta-form. Much of Root had been decimated, thanks to Genshi's Konoha reinforcements. The survivors were in containment, awaiting a military trial once the victors organized one.

There had been some deaths, as casualties were unavoidable. There would be a fair number of names to add to the Memorial Stone once they got back to the village…

But despite the losses, everyone was filled with a sense of hope.

Yes, it would still be a long road before them, to try to undo the damages Danzo and his Konoha-Akatsuki had wreaked on the ninja world. But they had _won_. Genshi was going home, victorious.

And… perhaps, now, those Elemental Countries that had not fallen to Danzo's army could be approached for treaties. As of right now, there was nothing Genshi could do about those that had already fallen, like Waterfall, Grass, and Earth. Genshi wasn't strong enough, not after this major battle. But they all suspected that those countries' militaries would be rising against the puppet leaderships Danzo had put in place anyway. Even in Iwa, where an Akatsuki member held the kage's seat, there would probably be revolution. The Akatsuki, Deidara, had been an Iwa _nukenin_ after all, and chances were slim that the country wanted an exiled criminal for a leader.

So maybe now that Genshi had cut off the head of the beast, the limbs would die. In other words, maybe now that they'd killed Danzo, Danzo's house of cards would fall. Even though the old war hawk had claimed to have control of his 'empire,' the whole thing was as fragile as a butterfly's wings. He ruled them by fear and threats. Now that he was gone, perhaps things would straighten themselves out.

Not that there wouldn't be any dangers ahead for Genshi and their restored Konoha. The Village would bear the brunt of the blame for this war, and would probably be a target for some hostility.

_:But at least we killed Danzo,: _Sakura thought, _:At least we can go home.:_

They would face the new problems as they came up. Right now was a time for celebration.

…Or a time for answers.

Sakura _had _been lucky enough to remain conscious for Danzo and Itachi's fight. Which meant that she had also heard a lot of things that she didn't quite understand. Being an intellectual kind of person… not to mention curious… she wanted those things cleared up.

So while much of Genshi and their Konoha-allies partied and drank and celebrated, Sakura stalked purposefully through their underground base, looking for one Uchiha Itachi.

She was just starting to get frustrated when he just _appeared _in front of her, looking almost grim.

"I expected you earlier than this," he said before she even spoke. "Follow me; I'd prefer to speak in privacy."

Fuming a little bit at how long she'd been looking for him, only to have him pop up with a line like '_I expected you earlier than this_', she bit back a sharp retort and followed. She did want answers, after all, and probably wouldn't get them if she antagonized her source.

He led her to his own room within the base—the one place, she suspected, where he was sure they wouldn't be interrupted or overheard. He held the door for her and then closed it behind them before turning to face her.

The war had taken its toll on him, as well as on the rest of Genshi. Sakura would have some interesting scarring on her chest where the _kikaichuu _had done irreparable damage to the skin. Itachi had a black patch over his right eye, the eye that did not have the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The amount he had used that eye's ability in the fighting had deteriorated its vision sharply; what little Tsunade could do to heal it had been done, and now he wore the patch to rest it as it recovered. He'd still have only sixty-percent normal vision in it, though.

Now he fixed her with a steady gaze from his visible eye, and said, "Ask."

Well, alright, so he had caught on to the fact that she had questions. Sakura took a breath. First things first.

"Why did you wait so long to kill him?" she asked. And when Itachi lifted an eyebrow, added: "Once I thought about it, it seemed pretty obvious that you could have killed Danzo whenever you wanted. After all, you killed _Madara_ when you were _eleven_, and from what I hear, he was a whole grade higher than Danzo. But you took your time. And you _talked _to him a lot."

She could feel her brow furrowing in puzzlement, as it did every time she tried to ponder this. Itachi didn't look offended, or annoyed. He answered readily enough, "You're right. Compared to Madara, Danzo was weak. But where Madara was arrogant, Danzo was practical. Danzo backed himself with an army that was blindly loyal to him. That made it impossible to take him down with just one man. Genshi spent all these years in exile building its own army, gathering those things that an army needs—money, supplies, training. People."

Itachi tilted his head slightly and continued: "As to why I talked to Danzo… Sometimes, it isn't just enough to kill your enemy. Taking the time to understand why they have done what they've done can also be important. It can help you to prevent something similar from happening again."

"Oh," she frowned. Thought it over. Concluded that, yes, there was merit in that. It was somewhat similar to what Naruto did, she supposed—he talked to his opponents, figured out what made them tick, and more often than not, figured out what to say to make them reconsider their actions.

Itachi was waiting for her next question. And his eyes were… almost wary. Sakura debated a moment whether to ask him or to just let him have his secrets. But… she wanted to know. And if he really didn't want to tell her, he could just say so.

"What was the scroll Danzo mentioned?" she asked before she could lose her nerve. "And what did he mean when he said 'your secret'?"

Itachi held her gaze with his, intently. He said: "If I tell you this, you must understand… You cannot speak a word of it to any other. Not your team, not your friends. No one. It is S-rank classified, with all the secrecy restrictions that go along with that."

Sakura frowned. "If it's so secret, can you really be telling me about it?"

"I have dispensation to inform others at my own discretion," he said; his eye scanned her face. "You have heard enough from my… conversation with Danzo that it would be safer to bring you into the secret, and bind you to keeping it, rather than to let you go about with your questions."

Sakura paused. She probably wouldn't regret swearing to keep the secret, but something with as much gravity as this seemed to have… it required at least a brief thought. Finally, she nodded. "Fine. I swear to keep whatever you say here secret. I won't tell anyone."

Itachi stared into her eyes a moment longer, probably gauging her sincerity. And then he started to speak.

The story that unfolded was unbelievable. Time-travel? An older Itachi dying, only to have his mind transported into his eleven-year-old body? A different future in which the Uchiha were all dead, Itachi a _nukenin_, and Akatsuki an organization bent on the destruction of Konoha? At first Sakura listened disbelievingly, but she thought about what he was saying as the tale lengthened and events began to coalesce…and it made sense. A wild sort of sense, in that she had never imagined such things were possible, but… When she was younger, she never imagined running up the side of a tree or walking on water, either. But chakra allowed ninja to do both of those things. So… why not time-travel?

Maybe the victory—and adrenalin-high—Sakura was experiencing had something to do with how easily she accepted the story. Maybe her own experiences had stretched her mind so that it was flexible enough to wrap itself around the concept of time-travel. Maybe she believed him because her lifelong experience with Itachi told her that she could trust him, that he was not one to lie so extravagantly and for no reason. Maybe she trusted his wild story because other people she regarded highly trusted it—the Sandaime, Kakashi, Inoichi, Ibiki…

Whatever the reason—and she couldn't fully determine which it was, if it wasn't all of them at once—Sakura believed him. When Itachi finally fell silent, she stared at him, her mind reeling. He waited for her response.

What a secret to carry with you. She understood, now, a little bit why Itachi had always seemed so unflappable, so steady. He'd already seen everything life had to offer. He'd already _died _once before.

It was obvious why he'd made her swear to secrecy. Not even his family knew of this, Sakura would bet. The reason why he would forgo telling them, as close as he was to them, was obvious. And as for telling anyone else…

She breathed, "No wonder you're always so aloof and secretive. You knew that if people found out about your time-traveling they might try to use your knowledge for their own gain… Hell, that's partly what happened with Danzo! He found the scroll of what you'd told the Sandaime, and Ibiki, and Inoichi-san, and he used it to remake Akatsuki for his own use."

Itachi's visible eye narrowed slightly. "He must have been stealing knowledge even while the Sandaime was still in power… Akatsuki was forming even before Sarutobi-sama fell ill."

Sakura felt that her eyebrows had taken up permenant residence in her hairline—they'd risen in amazement some point near the beginning of the story and hadn't relaxed since. "Does Tsunade-shishou know your secret?"

"Yes." The answer didn't surprise Sakura; Itachi had accepted Tsunade as the true Godaime Hokage, and Itachi was nothing if not loyal. She nodded absently, the gears in her mind still clicking along, trying to fit all this into what she had already known, or thought she'd known.

The revelation of Itachi's past… and 'other-past,' Sakura thought wryly… explained some things. And raised some suspicions. Sakura had always wondered why Uchiha Itachi had deigned to tutor two strangers like Naruto and Sakura along with his little brother. And why they had all been placed on a Genin Team when, by all accounts, the Teams were supposed to be balanced in terms of skill. Itachi must have had a hand in that, probably because of his advance knowledge. He'd persuaded the Hokage and Council to agree to keeping them together.

Strange. Sakura didn't feel betrayed by the knowledge that she'd been so handily manipulated, like a piece on a _shogi _board. Itachi had trained her, and Naruto and Sasuke, molded them as easily as wet clay. Or… forged them, like you might a blade. He had prepped them for use as tools.

_However_. However, Sakura realized that this was what _any _leader did. A leader used his soldiers as tools, as weapons. Even the Sandaime—who was well-known for being compassionate toward his ninja and valuing their lives—sent his people out on life-threatening missions. Sent them out on missions that were as suicidal as they were vital. That was the purpose of ninja; to be sent on missions to help the Village. Even if Itachi had not taken interest in Team Seven, they would have been utilized in the same way. So, no. Sakura did not feel betrayed. Itachi had not done anything that would have been unusual under other circumstances. Just because he had a little bit of fore-knowledge did not make his actions sinister.

Everything Itachi had done had been to help protect the Village—his friends, his family, his little brother. And hadn't he protected her, too, when she needed it? And his training had better prepared her for the harsheness of the ninja world. She survived, in part, because of it. Her teammates survived because of it.

Although, she wondered…

"When you saved me from those bullies, did you know who I was?"

Itachi knew immediately what she was referring to—the incident when she was six that had been their first interaction. He looked her head-on and answered truthfully: "I did not know until I had driven them away."

Sakura smiled. _:Knew it. Maybe I didn't understand all his motivations until now, but his intentions were always good. He only ever wanted to protect people. To protect Konoha.:_

"You know," she said lightly, "I think that, when we return to Konoha, you should destroy that scroll. There's no reason for anyone to know that you were sent back in time. Like you said, everything changed as soon as you were sent back; the future you knew is irrelevant here, now. The only information you have from that other life that's still important is the information about people; enemies, their weaknesses, abilities… Like the information you have on Akatsuki's members. But that can be gathered by any spy. So why not pretend that's where you got it? Why not just be another loyal Konoha shinobi, instead of a time-traveler?"

She received a slight smile in response. "After the incident with Madara and the failed coup, I told the Hokage I would be just another Leaf-nin in the ranks. But then, with Danzo…"

_I didn't have the luxury of forgetting. _He didn't say it, though. Not outloud.

"Well," Sakura said, "you've got that option again. I advise you take it. And right now, I'd also advise that we go join our fellow Leaf-nin and celebrate. Everyone will wonder where we are."

She turned and walked to the door. Behind her, Itachi said quietly, "Sakura-san. Thank you."

For not fighting his request to keep this secret. For believing him. For not turning on him once she knew the truth.

Sakura grinned at him. "We're teammates, Itachi-san."

* * *

Sakura weaved her way through the reveling Genshi. To her side, she saw Lee and Tenten reuniting with their lost teammate, Hyuuga Neji, who had come with the reinforcements from Konoha. Neji's mouth was curved in an unmistakeable smile, and Lee had tears of joy in his eyes. Tenten looked close to tears herself.

Kotetsu had found his friend, teammate, and comrade Izumo and with them, Anko and Genma were sharing a jug of _sake_. Kurenai was showing off her son Makoto to Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Chouza, and Yamanaka Inoichi. Sasuke and Itachi's mother, Uchiha Mikoto, stood with them, laughing along with Kurenai as Inoichi tried to extricate his fingers from the child's grip.

People were milling about, swigging beer and _sake_, talking, joking, laughing. Some sported bandages, others seemed virtually untouched by the battle. All were smiling.

To some, the joyous celebration might have seemed somewhat callous after the difficult and deadly battle they'd all just been a part of. And certainly some of them had lost loved ones, but they all knew that the dead had died for what they'd believed in. And they would be honored, as was proper. But tonight was for the living. And the living were enjoying their victory.

The air of energetic merriment was catching, and Sakura laughed as she glanced behind her to check if Itachi was keeping up. He was smiling slightly and accepting hand-clasps and shoulder-slaps from those sober enough to recognize him and realize that he had been the one to do Danzo in. She left him in the clutches of his cousin Shisui and Shisui's Team.

"OOOI, SAKURA-CHAAAN!" bellowed Naruto's voice over the hubbub. Sakura turned, unable to wipe the wide grin off her face, and spotted her teammates. Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari had been given a place of honor at the end of the long table that stretched across the room—doubtless because of the major role they'd played in the battle. Tsunade and Jiraiya sat at the other end of the table, looking far more sober than the number of empty bottles around them would suggest.

Ino, Shikamaru, and some of their other year-mates from Konoha were sitting with Naruto. Sakura waved energetically, and started making her way through the crowd to them.

"Sakura!" Ino leaped to her feet to embrace her friend. With her lips pressed to Sakura's ear, Ino whispered quickly: "Who's that cute redhead with the eyeliner?"

Ino and Gaara? Sakura smothered a laugh, and pushed her friend away.

"Hey guys," she said, flopping down onto a free cushion. Ino flounced back into her own seat, eyes bright with mischief and happiness.

"Sakura-chan, I can't believe you almost missed it! Where have you been?" Naruto demanded.

"I was dragging _someone's _recalcitrant brother to the party," she said lightly, jerking a thumb behind her in Itachi's general direction.

"Itachi?" Sasuke said.

"Unless you have another brother you haven't told us about?" Sakura said pleasantly. Sasuke scowled at her, and then got up.

"I'm going to go find him."

"Come back in time for the thing!" Naruto shouted after him. Sakura winced a little at the volume.

"What thing, Naruto? And what did I almost miss?" she asked then. She absently accepted the _sake _bottle Ino pressed into her hand.

"Didn't you hear, Tsunade made an announcement!"

"Naruto…" Sakura drawled. "Get to the point!"

"Tsunade-s-sama declared t-that Genshi's members would reclaim their _hitai-ate _tonight," Hyuuga Hinata stammered from where she sat, blushing, next to Naruto.

Sakura's breath caught. Reclaim their…? Oh! Elation flooded her, quickly followed by regret. Genshi would finally put back on their Leaf _hitai-ate_. But hers was in her room.

"Hey," Sasuke's voice cut in above her head. She craned her neck back to see Sasuke, Itachi, and Shisui with his cadre. Sasuke tossed something at her, and she reached to catch it automatically.

It was her _hitai-ate_. She looked at it in surprise, and then shot a narrowed glare at Sasuke. "Did you go through my stuff?"

Shisui laughed, "Sasuke-chan, I didn't think you had it in you! Rifling through a girl's drawers."

Sasuke snorted and punched Shisui's shoulder without looking. "Figured you missed the announcement, so the _dobe _and I went to get it for you."

"We knew where you keep it," Naruto said, beaming. Sakura rolled her eyes. Only Naruto would be so… cheerful while admitting to digging through a girl's belongings. At least she didn't keep the _hitai-ate _with anything potentially embarrassing.

She shrugged. "Thanks."

Then she turned to the Sand Siblings, grinning. Kankurou seemed to be passed-out already, a couple empty _sake _bottles around him. Temari was watching Shikamaru out of the corner of her eye. Gaara was just watching the proceedings with a curious expression on his face. "So, Gaara, what do you think of Genshi now?"

He thought for a moment, and the replied soberly, "Loud. Happy." He looked around them, taking in the revelry, and added quietly, "I like them."

Sakura smiled. "You and your siblings can stay with us as long as you want. I'm sure Tsunade-shishou would welcome you."

Gaara nodded gravely.

"LOOK, LOOK!" Naruto cried, pointing. Sakura turned, and saw that Tsunade was standing on top of the table. Her face was flushed, and she held a jug of _sake _in one hand, but Sakura knew her teacher well enough to know that the woman was probably barely even tipsy.

"GENSHI!" Tsunade bellowed, and silence fell quickly. Everyone turned to face her. Those who were sitting stood. Tsunade lifted her _sake _high, as if toasting. "It has taken long years, but at last, Danzo's shadow has been lifted from Konoha! The threat of Root and the Bijuu has been eliminated."

Cheers erupted, then tapered off into silence once more, as Tsunade continued, "We have lost good friends, good people, to this war. They will not go forgotten. Their names will be added to the Memorial Stone, their memories honored.

"Genshi! We have won a great battle. And while we will still have difficulties to overcome in the future, right now, we stand victorious. Genshi, stripped of our Village, we became shades. Let us now reclaim ourselves."

There was a flurry of movement through the crowd, as they all took out their Leaf _hitai-ate_. Sakura felt emotion swell in her chest to see that each and every one of Genshi's ninja members had kept their Leaf bands.

Tsunade had put down her _sake _jug and was holding her own _hitai-ate _in her hands. With solemn ceremony, she brought it to her forehead. Genshi followed suit.

Sakura felt tears prick her eyes as she tied her _hitai-ate _to her head for the first time in years. All around her, the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, engraved in polished metal, flashed proudly.

"Loyal ninja of Konoha," Tsunade said, "We're going home."

* * *

_TH: Holy flip! It's done! The end!_

_Well, sort of. :) 'Shades' might be finished, but I think I am going to make a short flashfic series (like what 'Ravel, Unravel' was) to give you all a look at the rebuilding of Konoha. I just didn't want to put all that in this story, not after the climax of the end of this war. We just had a resolution of conflict, I can't drag the story out any longer or it would feel/read awkward(ly). So I'm going to give you breathing room, and then make a mini-sequel for what I want to show of the future of Genshi/Konoha. Keep an eye out for it._  
_Now. Acknowledgments._

_Thanks to MakalaMea for betaing this story! Without her, you all might be wondering about the dog-eating chicken or the dog eating chicken._

_And thanks to you all for reading, faving, alerting, and reviewing. I really appreciate it. And if you could all see your way to one final review for the good ol' Shades, I would love you all just that much more. :)_

_I look forward to killing you later! (ninjas. couldn't resist)  
_


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